Adamant
by vorvol
Summary: Lara seems to think that finding the legendary El Dorado is what it takes to prove her worth after the Yamatai incident was covered up. Himiko's powers stir dormant within Sam, who is determined to keep Lara alive. She determined that this time, she'll be with her all the way. (S.S Endurance)
1. Blacklight

**Alright, I'm guessing a lot of you will probably be wondering why Lara and Sam's acting like this, etc, etc. Because I don't want to write a ridiculously long and boring prologue with long expositions, I'll explain the events that lead up to here through mentions in future chapters or mini OITNB style flashbacks.**

 **I promise, everything will make sense. Even though the events before this chapter are pretty simple, I won't bore you with writing 3+ paragraphs about them. Enjoy, and please let me know if I should continue. Also, plently of fluffy and funny moments are in store.**

 **EDIT: Had to reupload because I forgot to bloody beta it.**

* * *

' _Crazy UCL Archaeologist Shipwrecks Crew'. That's the newspaper headline that has made Lara Croft's life a living hell. She was stupid to think anyone would believe her. As far as the public is concerned, the island of Yamatai is a myth, and every professor is either laughing with her or humiliated that they've once commended her for her top marks. Her former professor refuses to even look at her._

 _Some Croft she is._

Sam has no idea what Lara was thinking when she said she was going for a 'job interview'. Of course, she's not complaining that a friendly looking stranger in a sleek black car is driving her to the town's most expensive sushi joint and that she's reportedly not going to have to pay for anything, what she's concerned about is what exactly this job Lara's going to take will involve.

Obviously, she assumed she would be digging in some hot and arid spot with lots of rocks, but now she's not so sure. "We're not gonna kidnap you in the middle of a sushi place." The stranger chuckles, after another five minutes of silence from the normally talkative Japanese-Portuguese. Sam thinks she just saw her smirk, but maybe she was imagining it.

The woman's short blonde hair barely reaches her shoulders as she cocks her head to the side with her nonchalant cerulean eyes. To say she's dressed _differently_ is an understatement—an army green jacket, rolled to her elbows, fits nicely over the plain tank-top underneath. A desert brown pair of cargo pants leads down to what seems like a darker shade of brown hiking boots. Lara thinks she sees her smirk a little, but that may have been her imagination, because she's busy thinking of how this person looks more like she's from the army than a newspaper office. Oh, also, Sam thinks she saw a glimpse of what seems to be a pistol on her belt, but the jacket covers it well enough for her to not be able to check without giving herself away. Her nicely shaped jaw and lightly glossed lips, accompanied by her sharp nose makes Sam wonder why she even bothers. Whatever her job is, it's clear that she won't need to look pretty to do it.

Also, Sam swears that they nearly crashed three times on the way here. This woman, who claimed to be Lara's future co-worker, kept checking for messages and replying every five minutes on the road, her eyes flicking from the screen of her phone to the road every three seconds.

Another reason to wonder what the hell Lara is thinking.

She almost doesn't notice the scent of fresh seafood, cold green tea, and hot ramen swirling all around her as she follows the stranger through the tables and chairs. "Grandma's just through here." She says, her voice confident and fairly amiable.

"Grandma?" Comes Sam's incredulous reply.

She doesn't answer, though. She slides open a traditional Japanese sliding door to one of the VIP rooms, because _of course_ the most expensive sushi joint in town has one. Suspicious as she is, Sam can't deny that she's curious. Let it never be said that Sam Nishimura is a coward.

The door is shut behind her just in time for 'Grandma' to put down her can of beer. Sam double takes, swearing that she must be seeing things wrong. Nope, it's still beer, and it's definitely a grandma drinking it. Her dark brown hair is tied in a loose bun, her curly hair framing her wrinkled face like the vines of an old tree. Her skin, a lighter shade of brown that's still quite dark, is marked with lines that show her age. Her nose is long and pointed, almost like the evil witches in children's shows, but her smile is wise and kind. It's almost odd to see her dressed in a neat, businesslike suit.

" _Sam_?" Lara's eyes widen as if she can't believe what she's seeing.

" _Lara_?"

"Ladies," The old woman chuckles. "I will explain everything, don't you worry."

Lara gives Sam an almost pleading look that's just enough to make her sit down, and she gives the archaeologist a questioning look of her own as she sits by her best friend, across from the blonde woman who drove her here.

"I assume you've met Cameron, although she probably played the mysterious recruiter act and didn't even introduce herself properly." She laughs a bit at the younger woman beside her.

"Screw you, gran." Cameron snorts, rolling her eyes despite the grin on her face.

Upon seeing Sam and Lara exchanging another one of their looks, the old woman begins. "My name is Wilma Willows, and I run Blacklight Operations. Miss Croft, I've had one of my people make a copy of your report from your old university, UCL, and I must say that I'm very impressed."

"You _what_?" Lara disbelievingly asks.

"It wasn't that hard, dear." Wilma rummages through her briefcase after pulling it from under the table, taking out a very thick pile of papers. She puts it on the table, flipping it around for the two women to see. There, written in large, bold letters were ' _The True Nature of Yamatai, by Lara Croft_ '.

Lara lets out an uncharacteristic huff, refusing to even look at the work she so lovingly typed out months ago, sacrificing her sleep and reputation as a perfectly respectable young woman who doesn't rave about little known Japanese legends. "Of course. Every professor in the world's heard of the shame of the idiot from UCL."

"That's a real shame, darling." Wilma clicks her tongue, shaking her head with disapproval. "My people have just come back from Yamatai, and they confirmed what you wrote in your report. Accurate geographical analysis, flora and fauna descriptions, even the trail of corpses that you left for us."

Cameron smirks and nods in approval. "Those were good kills. Would've liked to have been there."

 _There was nothing good about it._ Before Lara has the chance to complain, Wilma begins again. "We... found the bodies. They'll be sent to the funeral home in two weeks, tops. It's on me."

"T-Thank you." Lara can't help but raise her eyebrows ever so slightly. "But why?"

"Consider it a gift from us." Cameron leans her elbow on the table, propping her chin on it. "We're going to be working together, after all."

Sam's father uses the same tactics. He lures his potential business partners out to lavish cruises and restaurants to show he's rich, capable, to show that they need him. It's a well known and reliable tactic.

"Our old archaeologist bailed. Disappeared. Don't know, he was one sanctimonious asshole, but he just _went_." Cameron begins, her tone light and nonchalant. "We offered him protection, but he kept insisting that he worked alone and shit. Hell, one of my guys offered to teach him to shoot and he nearly shot my damn foot!" She scowls, crossing her arms. "He also said he'd document everything on the fuckin' expensive camera we got him, but everything there was shaky shit with bits of him mumbling."

"Cameron..." Wilma raps her fingers against the table.

Cameron nods, albeit a little annoyed. "I wouldn't wanna bore you, but he was acting shifty as hell. He keeps scribbling into this notebook of his and he wouldn't show us shit. He even sleeps with his bag slung over his shoulder, hugging that thing in his sleep! I mean, what kind of archaeologist calls five hours of videos about leaves 'documentary'? Then one day, he just went out into the jungle and never came back!"

The connotations doesn't fly over Sam's head. "And what do you want Lara to do?" She asks, her voice on edge.

"Look, I don't know what happened to him, but he refused security and he was kind of a dick. If he finds something there and doesn't give us our cut, that's bad for business and bad for our wallet." Cameron sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Wilma takes a sip of her green tea. "I checked my networks everywhere. He's never been seen anywhere else ever since he disappeared, so we're ninety five percent sure he's still in there."

Cameron nods. "What we need is an archaeologist who's not some stuck up fucker who knows their shit, can handle themselves in a scuffle, and someone we're sure won't double cross us. We've got to find whatever he found, and then nail that fucker if he's not dead in some river somewhere."

Lara knows she shouldn't ask this, but her curiosity gets the better of her. "And how do you know I won't do that?"

" _Lara_." Sam interrupts. "Didn't you hear what she said? He probably got jumped by something there and _died_."

The young brunette doesn't answer yet, but her eyes tell her everything she needs to tell. They're not the eyes of a naive young college student, not anymore—they belong to Lara Croft. Not the victim, but the survivor.

"Me and the others will be with her all the way." Cameron says, putting her hand on her hip. Her jacket shifts to the side, revealing a peek of the pistol hidden underneath. "We've got some serious firepower, and we ain't a bunch of trigger happy kids looking for extra pocket money."

Wilma puts a hand on the blonde's shoulder, pride glinting in her eyes. "I can back up her words. Only the exceptional amongst the exceptional are accepted into Blacklight. If you'd like, you can see Cameron's dossier during our next meeting."

Sam would roll her eyes at the woman's confidence that there will be a next meeting, but the glint in Lara's eyes and her stiff upper lip tells her that her that the old woman's confidence isn't misplaced.

"That would be nice, thank you." Lara says, her hands tightening under the _Finally_./em

Wilma's gaze falls onto Sam as she smiles generously. "A position is also open for a documentarist-"

"Yes." Sam nods, confident, no trace of fear in her eyes.

Cameron chuckles, closing her eyes as her grin threatens to split her face. "We haven't even told you what we think we've found."

Sam impatiently leans forward. "Well, what is it?"

A smirk. "I'll be straight up with you. Ever heard of El Dorado?"

It's during that exact moment that the sliding door opens and the servers come to carry steaming plates of various foods, but Sam suddenly doesn't find the smell of crispy tempura and onigiri alluring anymore, because her attention has finally been piqued.

* * *

 **So I finally decided to start a Tomb Raider fanfiction. I'm going to see how much interest is here to see if I should continue, so let me know if you want more, because I'm running two other fanfic series and I want to know if there are enough readers for me to spend even more time in front of my computer from :P**

 **I'm not going into much detail about Yamatai angst because there are lots of fantastic stories out there about that. I just want to go straight to the next adventure with Sam and Lara doing the frick frack already.**

 **(Also, I promise to clear things up in the future chapters. Read the first author's note if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)**


	2. Air Conditioners Are Overrated

**After this chapter, it should be clear what Sam's character arc will be about.**

* * *

 _Lara nuzzles further into Sam's collarbone, her shoulders heavy as she thinks of the thick bundle of papers sticking out of the trash can, as if mocking her to even look at it. Stupid thesis, stupid university, stupid professors. The only thing that keeps her from grabbing a lighter and setting the whole thing on fire is the soothing hand on her back. Sam's eyes used to droop with exhaustion when the nightmares struck every time she closed them, but not anymore—Lara keeps her company at night now, and the bad dreams are kept at bay by her strong heartbeats and steady breaths._

 _A sigh of frustration._

" _I'm sorry, Lara." Her voice is uncharacteristically soft._

 _Lara tries to smile for her, even though the pain is evident in her eyes. "It's okay, Sam. It's not your fault."_

" _You'll show them all, one day. I know it." She's completely sure, and she'll make sure it happens. "And I'll be with you every step of the way."_

* * *

Sam yawns. The only reason she held her tongue when Wilma insisted that they leave for Brazil at four in the morning is because she valued the fat paycheck they promised to give them, and because they spent hours scouring the city for so-called adventure shops. Oh, and the old woman insisted on paying for all the boots, jackets, and miscellaneaous items Cameron insisted on buying for them. She took one look at the duo's usual backpacking gear and frowned, saying they won't do at all.

And now? Now, the documentarist is groggily switching off her video camera after slurring about how they're leaving in this ungodly hour of the morning. She's amazed that she didn't fall down on her face when she circled the propeller plane to get a few good shots of it.

Talking about the propeller plane, Lara can't seem to put her head around it. The plain looking vehicle sits ready on the asphalt, a person who's supposedly the pilot fumbling around in the cockpit for some reason—Sam can't muster the strength to care, at the moment.

"A propeller plane?" Lara sounds equal parts excited and bewildered in her gear. Her usual blue tank top is layered by a nice, breathable light gray jacket that's somewhat similar in style to Cameron's, but the outline of her broad shoulders are definitely still visible.

Sam herself is wearing the same thing, only in dark brown. "We look like we're starting a girl band." Sam absentmindedly giggles. She can't help but notice how natural Lara looks. The hiking backpack and the boots look just _right_ on her, and that's before she takes into account the pistol that's slightly poking out of her side. Her chocolate brown hair, held in her usual ponytail, whips to the side as a particularly cold gust of wind blows by. Lips slightly parted, her eyes glimmer with an unspoken determination as her hand clasps tight around the belt that holds her holster. Her dark pants fit her muscular legs well, and Sam's eyes dart a little higher.

 _Hot damn._

"Enjoying the view?" Cameron's chuckle is almost drowned out by the wind, her blonde hair inadvertantly blown right into her face.

Sam would have thought that the mercenary was talking to Lara, but she's looking at her. She freezes for a second when she realizes she's been staring.

Lara seems to think that she's talking to her, though, and she nods stiffly. "I can't believe you have a propeller plane. It's just so..."

"Classic, right?" Cameron gives Sam a look that lasts for barely a second after she decides not to correct the Croft. ' _You're welcome'_ is what it says.

The slim presumably-the-pilot leans on the sides of the plane's open door. "Are you done giggling, ladies?" Most of the pilot's skin is covered by her form-fitting dark blue jeans, boots, and a leather jacket over a white shirt. Her light brown skin seems to glow under the sun's first golden rays, her wavy black hair matching the color of her glasses' thick frames. Her lipstick gives her lips a warm pink tinge that contrasts the dark cerulean of her eyes.

"And this is our pilot." Cameron steps forward, proudly gesturing to the Hispanic or Arabian woman—Sam can't really tell.

"Come on in," The pilot's voice is warm and husky, deep yet unmistakably feminine. "We've got to lease ASAP."

Cameron doesn't waste any time before she follows, the stairs to the plane sturdy under her step. "Hey, we would've been faster if Croft here didn't spend half an hour reading the whole contract." She teases.

Lara blushes in embarrassment as she ducks her head a bit to fit through the door. "It was a very long contract." She reasons.

"You'll get used to her." Sam tells them as she steps into the plane. "Besides, when some random rich lady and someone who looks like they stepped out of a war movie set offers you a job to find something like _that_ , you'd better RTFC."

The interior of the plane seems quite cozy, with enough space for roughly fifteen people. A mini-fridge sits at the corner, while the suede dark green seats are arranged around the plane instead of in a row, unlike passenger planes. It looks more like a living room, this way. The seats soft and rivals the comfort of the business class seats Sam is used to. _Was_ , she corrects herself. She's too broke to book those now.

Cameron makes herself comfortable as she seats herself to the seat close to the pilot's, crossing her legs as she yaws quite animatedly. "RTFC?"

"Read the fucking contract." Sam clarifies, seating herself next to Lara.

"Sam," Lara scolds, although her words hold no bite. "We're talking to our _employers_."

The engine roars to life as the propellers begin to spin. Cameron sleepily stretches her arms. "The grandma's your employer, I'm your co-worker. Loosen up, Croft."

Lara looks like she's about to collapse on the spot. "So, about the job..." She nevertheless starts.

Sam's head plops onto Lara's shoulder, prepared for an incorrigible string of academic jargon. "Here it goes..." The last thing she hears before she falls asleep is the sound of Lara's soft laughter.

* * *

Air conditioners are overrated.

The winds sing as they whirl in through the plane's open windows, cool and fresh. Sam knows Lara's shoulder is comfy, just the perfect height for her to rest her head, but she hasn't slept this well on a plane since forever. Some time during her slumber, she had entwined her arm with hers. Lara's head is tipped forward, small snores barely audible thanks to the wild winds and the sound of the plane's engines. The sun is up and shining, which is probably what woke her up.

"Awake?"

Sam lazily stretches her limbs, careful to remove her arm slowly as to not wake Lara up. "Yeah. What did I miss?"

"Not much." The pilot says. "Cameron here just showed your friend a picture of our only lead."

Cameron fiddles with her phone before holding it out for Sam to see. "Some Incan looking pyramid in the middle of a shitload of mosquitoes and snakes."

Sam leans forward to get a better look. It seems like an average tourist picture of a pyramid that's covered in moss and vines, but then again, she's not an archaeologist. "How long until we get there?" She asks, once Cameron retracts her phone.

"ETA twenty minutes to Iquitos." The pilot answers, her tongue wrapping around the foreign word naturally. "You slept for an entire eleven hours, through all our stops. That's a record."

"Comfy, huh?" Cameron cocks her head towards the sleeping brunette who had served as her pillow until just now.

"More than you know." Sam says, looking out the window. Thin wisps of clouds glide outside, but she can see a distant land dotted by white, red, blue, and any color she can imagine, framed by the rich greens of trees around. The seven or so hours that she spent awake was filled with Lara spewing archaeological terms that absolutely nobody understood, so she felt it necessary to conk out for a long, long time.

"You were sleeping when I introduced myself, _dormilona_." The pilot pauses. "Sleepyhead, I meant."

"She just got back from Mexico with her brother." Cameron explains.

"Name's Nicky Carmichael. I handle the company's transportation." The smirk is evident in her voice. "And I occasionally fix the toaster or the microwave, whichever breaks first."

"So, you and Croft..." Cameron crosses her arms, lazily grinning.

Nicky rolls her eyes amusedly. "Here she goes..."

Cameron holds up two fingers on her right and two on her left, crossing them and rubbing together with a less than innocent look on her face. "Yes?"

Nicky doesn't even have to turn her head to know what her coworker is doing. "That's not how you scissor and you know it."

Sam stifles her laughter, but only because the woman next to her is fast asleep. "Me and Lara?"

"Hey, I wasn't judgin'." Cameron holds her hands up, her voice getting louder. "I enjoy a nice rack too. Two hot, single girls. It's like one plus one, right?"

Lara stirs beside her, murmuring something as her head tilts to the side and falls onto her shoulder. The weight on Sam's shoulder is accompanied by a pleasant sound from the archaeologist's throat.

Before Sam can answer, she feels the plane descending. Lara's head lifts from her shoulder, heavy with sleep. She looks around and attempts to blink the grogginess away. Of course she doesn't say it out loud, but Sam finds herself a tad disappointed when the weight is lifted from her.

"As I was saying..." Cameron mouths when Lara looks outside the window.

"How are we going to the Amazon?" Lara asks as she fixes her ponytail. The tuft of hair that was sticking out in her sleep was starting to look silly.

"There's a car in the airport's parking lot. From there, we go to a boat rental. Someone's waiting for us there and he'll take us where we need to go." Nicky explains, flipping a few switches and pressing a few buttons.

Cameron's phone beeps. She reaches for it as fast as any young person whose life has been consumed by social media can, but this time, she frowns at the message she gets. "Shit."

"What is it?" Lara asks, narrowing her eyes.

"I got a message from one of our friends." Cameron puts her phone down and her hand leaves for her pistol. She pulls it out and looks at it, turning it over and examining the firearm with a certain coldness to her green eyes. "Some people may be looking to pay us a visit."

Sam gulps. She looks like she's actually looking forward to using it. "What the hell? How do you know this?"

Lara instinctively clasps her own hand over Sam's. Her trigger finger suddenly itches. "Sam..."

Cameron's eyes don't leave her pistol. "I'll explain later." Those words are quickly becoming her catchphrase. "Sam, I see a pistol on your hip, but can you use it?"

"No." Lara's hand tightens over hers. "I'm not letting her get into danger. And who's after us?"

"I don't know." Cameron's thumb runs over the smooth black of her gun. "But we'll find out soon enough."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Lara's voice tenses. "Sam could—"

"She'll be fine." Nicky casually says.

Lara is about to complain more until the plane suddenly rocks. Her head collides with Sam's, making a sound that's similar to two coconuts being thrown against each other. The archaeologist hisses at the sudden knock to the head, but the shock is nothing compared to the one she feels when she looks out of the window.

No sea, no clouds. They're on an airstrip with freshly cut grass around them. The plane has landed.

"Go." Nicky exclaims, picking up her own backpack from beside her seat. The two mercenaries are already jumping out onto the pavement by the time the two Yamatai survivors are getting up.

"Ain't got all day." Cameron only looks back for a fraction of a second to make sure the two are with her before she bolts.

They run. Sam's hair flies wildly as the wind blows into her face. She keeps checking if her gun is still on her hip, afraid that it would somehow fall off during her frantic sprints. She looks at the airport. It seems so far away from where they are, but she's sure she can make it there. She can see her three companions' backs from where she is, but it takes a second for her to realize what that means.

She's falling behind.

 _No way_. She digs her feet stronger into the ground, forcing her strides to get longer and faster. Her boots thump unceremoniously as she does so, but she's getting closer. She pushes a little farther to finally match Lara's pace toe to toe, smiling as she gives herself a pat in the back. Maybe those overpriced personal trainers she frequently booked before Yamatai wasn't a waste.

Of course, her satisfaction doesn't last for long. How long have they been sprinting and how the _hell_ are the three women keeping this up? The heel of Sam's feet are starting to ache and her lungs are starting to burn. Her cheeks feel hot, and before she knows it, she's getting farther away from them again.

Lara looks over her shoulder to check on her, her breathing still even and her steps effortless. Sam grits her teeth and pushes again, going faster until she's beside her best friend again. She nods when Lara checks on her again. _'I'm okay._ '

Just as the first beads of sweat form on her forehead, Cameron rushes through the glass doors, followed by the rest of them. Lara takes a moment to hold the door open for Sam before she resumes her run. Just as Sam is grateful for the cool air from the air conditioning, she realizes that she's falling behind _again_. Truly swearing to work out more once this is all over, Sam rushes forward, her breaths ragged and worn out.

At least the airport is deserted enough for her sweat like a pig in near privacy.

* * *

By the time the car is in sight, Sam is panting like a dog in heat. She's a few steps behind everyone else when Nicky raises her hand in a universal sign to stop. She gladly does, her hands immediately holding onto her knees for support as she tries to catch her breath. Fat droplets of sweat fall to the asphalt, patches of dark gray against a lighter shade.

"Bomb sweep." Nicky announces, but Sam doesn't even look up at her.

Sam only turns her head when a gentle hand lands on her shoulder. Lara's hair is a bit of a mess, but her breathing is nowhere as frantic as hers. "Are you okay, Sam?"

"Peachy." She nods faintly.

Lara knows she's not. "I'll get a ticket for you to come back to London. It's not safe anymore." She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What was I thinking?"

Sam stops her hand when it reaches for the money pouch on the brunette's belt. "No. I'm coming with you."

A worried frown. "Sam, I don't know what's going to happen."

"This is why you showed me how to use a gun, Lara." Sam gets up, realizing that her previous position isn't helping her case. In truth, she's not very confident with her abilities, but she refuses to show it. Her face is flushed and bits of her hair are stuck to her face, but she keeps a stiff upper lip. "I'm not leaving you to do everything again."

"We've done bodyguard jobs before." Cameron reassures them, her eyes shifting around as if scanning for danger. "If you look as my dossier, you'll see that all my clients are very satisfied with my abilities."

" _Our_ abilities, asshole." Nicky corrects, laughing as she crawls out from below the car. "It's all good, let's go."

Once again, Lara is cut off before she can complain. They drive out of the parking lot in record speed. Sam doesn't know what the speed limit here it, but Nicky's driving is probably putting them somewhere at the limit. "Listen," Cameron says, gun ready on her lap. Her voice is all business, now. Although she's not looking at her, Sam can tell she's the one she's talking to. "Stay vigilant. If someone starts shooting for us, duck low and find cover. Me and Nicky will take care of it. For now, just watch from your window and watch for suspicious activity. I'll see if you're fit to fight later." Sam's stomach sinks. Cameron grins. "And Croft?"

"Yes?" Lara decides to follow her example and readies her pistol on her lap, finger twitchy and ready.

"Lookin' forward to seeing you in action."

The rest of the drive goes fairly quietly. Sam's eyes scan every vehicle that passes them, every street food vendor, expecting each one of them to burst out with blazing bullets. She's reminded once more of Yamatai, when every snapped branch means one Solarii stalking her and even the sound of another's breath means she's almost been found.

She has no idea how long she's been staring at roads and passing motorcycles, at least not until she notices something odd. She's been seeing that red one a lot, and then there's the blue one that's always not far from the first. The riders are both wearing tinted helmets that make it hard for her to look past, but she knows it's them.

"They're following us. The red and blue motorcycles."

Lara holds her breath. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Sam nods. Her chest begins to thud when Lara turns her neck to check. "Don't look!"

For a moment, Lara looks at her as if she's mad, but then it strikes her. "Oh, right. They'll find out we're on to them."

"Good catch." Cameron checks the extra ammo on her belt. "Nicky, you focus on driving. After this is the quiet road to the river, right? If they're really out for our asses, they'll be tryin' to nail us there."

"Yes. You'd know for sure if you quit texting for just one minute." She teases.

"Croft, once they try to jump us there, Nicky is gonna brake and swerve the car. You just smash the window and they'll be sitting ducks."

"Got it." Lara nods, making sure her safety is on.

"Sam, don't forget to duck the moment they try to race past."

She makes a small sound of acknowledgment. Of course she's going to hide while Lara does the work. _Again_.

Now, it's just the matter of waiting. After a few more minutes of absolute silence, they finally reach a poorly maintained road with more bumps and holes than the Londoners are used to. Nicky's eyes are focused on the mirror by her right.

The motorcycles are still following them, but they're gaining speed. When the minutes pass and they're still trailing them, she begins to get anxious. Sam looks around—no one is around. There are only patches of grass around the road and bits of rocks.

And then they accelerate. Sam doesn't know where they pull out their sub machine guns, all she knows is that they're pointed at her car and the riders are getting closer and closer.

"They're gonna try to get our tires," Nicky explains. She waits right until the riders are close enough to aim. "Right about... Now." Her last word is accompanied by an extreme swerve of the car and the sound of screeching tires. Sam is thrown to the door, fortunately having the foresight to brace herself with her arms.

The car shakes twice, once when a loud crash bangs to the side of the vehicle, and twice when a second one happens again. Lara grabs her knife and rams the butt to the window. It shatters with satisfying ease, raining bits of glass outside. Without delay, the front window is also broken.

Lara clicks her safety off, and so does Cameron. They're such simple sounds, but to their pursuers, they may as well signal their end. Sam only catches a glimpse of their eyes, but to the naked eye, the archaeologist's eyes and the mercenary's look the same—no hesitation, no mercy, no fear.

Her best friend pulls her trigger without the slightest doubt, her eyes wide open at the crack of a bullet leaving the barrel of her pistol. Again, no difference from the mercenary. She pulls the trigger again, and then again. The sound of flesh being pierced and entered rings out over and over. Sam is glad she's too low to see anything outside.

"Stop." Cameron lowers her gun just in time to halt Lara from killing the other one.

One by one, they exit the car. Nicky draws her own gun, taking point behind the car. "You three search. I'll do some lookout work."

At first, Sam refuses to look down. She looks anywhere but the bodies, distracting herself with the gruesome dents on the car's side and even the beat up motorcycles. She's barely listening to what Cameron is saying. "You gotta spare one, Croft. Hurt 'em, but don't kill 'em, so you know what asshole sent them after ya."

It's only due to a morbid curiosity that Sam finally wills herself to see. The man on the left has three bullet holes in his chest, and a pool of blood is steadily growing bigger. He's not moving. She's glad he's still wearing his helmet, because she can't bear to see his face.

The second one is very much alive. His hard breathing can be heard, subdued and nasally as he tries to crawl towards his gun. Two bullets are lodged in his thighs. The gun is so close to his fingers, he could just go a bit farther and he's have it within his grasp, but today isn't his lucky day.

Cameron's boots stomp down harshly on his wounded thigh, and it stops him in his tracks. His pained howl shakes Sam's very core, but a strong arm loops around her waist, pulling her closer. "Shh..." Lara speaks into her ear, her other hand nudging the biracial woman's head into her chest.

Lara's gentle rocking is the only thing that gives her the strength to keep looking. Cameron has a relaxed smile on her face as her pistol dangles at her side, a smile that no one should have while stepping on a dying man. "Talk." Her voice is unsympathetic, cold. He breathes, but doesn't answer. She stomps down again, harder, and he screams.

"Sam, let's go in the car." Lara tugs on her arm, but Sam doesn't budge.

"You can do that." Cameron shoots her a carefree grin. "I know you're not used to this kind of thing."

Sam has to wait before she can find her voice again, and even then she finds herself shaking in Lara's arms. "How do you get used to something like _this_?" She wonders out loud.

Cameron chuckles darkly as she digs her heel further into his leg, watching her attacker writhe helplessly. "My friend, after you've killed as many people as I have, it won't matter how much they scream or cry—" She unsheathes her knife. "They won't even seem human anymore."

When the knife comes sailing down, she shields her eyes and buries her face in Lara's collarbone, but she can't block out the agonized screams. "Sam." Her voice is calm, much too calm for someone who's witnessing a scene like this. "Let's go inside."

"Okay." Sam agrees, soon finding herself being guided back to the door. But with her head to Lara's chest, she finds out one interesting tidbit: her heartbeat, unlike hers, is undisturbed. It's like like she's taking a regular walk on a regular day, picking up groceries and today's newspaper.

 _It won't matter how much they scream or cry. They won't even seem human anymore._

* * *

 **Guys, I have an important question. Is the fandom dead? I'm asking because I usually have more response when I post new stories, not that I'm whining about it.**

 **Alright, do y'all wanna take it at a snail's pace kind of slow or get straight to the fluffy bits already?**


	3. All Around Hottie

**Yeah, a bit of a slow chapter to explain a few things. Do remember that this story has an alternate history thing going on, which will be explained later, so there will be inconsistencies that some of you history buffs will notice. This all has a purpose, of course!**

 **AKA: one more chapter until the unbearable fluff happens.**

* * *

 _Sam's tongue sticks out cartoonishly from the corner of her mouth as she carefully ties the knot on the fresh bandages, careful not to tighten it too much. All in all, she's done quite a good job, which is natural—she has been doing literally all of Lara's bandages for a week, now. It really wouldn't do if she kept ripping them or wrapping them too lightly. Her poor Lara needs some rest, and having to sit up despite the pain isn't what she'd call rest._

 _When the final layer is finally done, Lara smiles tiredly. "Thanks, Sam. The old ones were really starting to itch."_

 _Sam gives her a cross look that's rendered quite nonfunctional by her worried glare. "Lara, you should've told me. You know I'd do them for you."_

" _I've got the nurses for that, Sam." Lara turns her head enough to catch Sam's concerned eyes. "You're too good to me, you know that? Feeding me, changing my bandages... maybe you should have taken nursing instead."_

" _Of course, Lara." Sam chuckles, although she doesn't think too much of it. "My hero." She swoons in an exaggerated manner, drawing a good natured laugh from the brunette._

 _However, the laugh dissipates into nothing when she feels lips brush against her cheek, so close that Lara can smell the scent of the blueberry muffins she had for breakfast. She feels her cheeks flaring up even more when Sam's arms find their way around her unclothed waist, pulling her closer as the descendant of Himiko perches her chin on Lara's shoulder. Sam's hand draws incorrigible circles on the back of hers._

 _The beeping of the heart monitor escalates so much that a nurse bursts into the room not much later, asking if anything is wrong. Lara denies it, of course, but her face still burns hot, to Sam's amusement._

* * *

Lara calmly shuts the door to the car, immediately scooting closer to her. In a second, her strong arms are around Sam again, reassuring and just _right_. Sam doesn't even know she's still holding onto her until she suddenly hears a gentle voice in her ear. "Are you okay?"

Sam nods slightly, but she still doesn't let go. "Yeah." Her voice is small, almost like a squeak.

Lara's hold tightens as she promises herself to have a very personal talk with Cameron later. "I'm sorry. She shouldn't have done that in front of you."

"No." Sam sighs. She's the one who should be sorry, everyone else is just doing what they do, and she's the one cowering here. "All in a day's work, right?"

The sound of Nicky and Cameron chatting outside is all she can hear. Lara briefly looks out the window to see Cameron tossing the last body into some bush while a pile of the dead men's items lay in a pile next to their exasperated looking pilot. Cameron wipes her hands on her pants like she had taken out the trash. "Sam, look at me." Lara's worried frown is rigid as the documentarist lifts her head from her chest. "You can still turn back. I can get you back to the—"

"No, Lara." Sam's answer is resolute. "I told you I'm not going to leave." If only she had something she could do, something that wouldn't make her so damn _useless_... She clenches her fists. She'll have to think of something—the pistol on Lara's side pokes her stomach. Of course _._ "Show me again."

Lara blinks. "What?"

"Later, show me how to shoot again." Sam says. It's not a request, but a demand. "I'll do it right, this time." Her eyes hold the slightest amount of doubt, steely like a sword fresh from the forge. But before Lara can answer, a realization strikes her. "The camera! I didn't catch it on camera!" She opens the bent door of the car, scrambling around in the back seat for a few moments.

Lara is taken by surprise by her outburst, suddenly missing the warmth in her arms as she watches Sam switch the camera on. She really thought the woman would be more shaken, at least, but her actions suggest that she was definitely mistaken.

"It's a quarter past one twenty three in the afternoon. We've just left the airport to leave for—" Lara stops listening after that, only noticing that there isn't a single stutter in the words she speaks. Sam speaks with utter clarity, be it because she's used to narrating or because she's just used to seeing dead people, Lara can't tell. The documentarist glides the camera over the bodies, giving a good view of the bent car and the two mercenaries who are thoroughly searching the men. "Thankfully, these badass ladies saved our asses." She zooms to Cameron and and Nicky's faces, getting a friendly wave from both.

"Thought you were gonna curl up in there forever, Sam." Cameron grins.

"Who do you think I am?" Sam fiddles with the settings, flashing them her best grin. "Smile for the camera!"

Lara chuckles. Maybe she doesn't need to worry that much if her dearest best friend wasn't even caught in the crossfire, anyway.

Apparently, Sam has just finished detailing the attack, and now she's pointing the camera to her. "And this is the one and only Lara Croft," she says with an air of grandeur, like a commentator introducing a winning boxer. She starts by pointing the camera to Lara's feet, steadily going up. "Archaeologist, all around badass, and my knight in shining armor."

"Sam, you're pointing the camera at my breasts." Lara a little self consciously crosses her arms over her chest, a ghost of a blush on her cheeks.

Sam only smirks in appreciation of the view. "All around hottie, too."

"On that, we can agree." Nicky snickers, to the laughter to everyone there.

* * *

"You know, I thought you were gonna chicken out, there." Cameron counts the layers of paper money in her hands, quietly smirking to herself.

"I've got to keep up with Lara dearest." Sam pats the camera on her lap. "The audience will want to see the boob shots."

"I can't believe you took all their stuff." Lara still can't stop gawking at the colorful bills in Cameron's hands.

"You're getting a cut too, don't sweat it."

Lara pauses, wondering if she's being serious. "That's not what I meant..."

"Just consider it a bonus for a job well done." Cameron grins and puts it in her money pouch. "We'll spread it all out once the job's done."

Nicky doesn't share her grin, instead looking at the passengers reflected by the mirror with interest. "You took that pretty well, Sam."

"Yeah, last time we did that, our client puked all over the windshields."

"Which is probably why we got our pay cut, you idiot."

"She's just grumpy 'cause her girlfriend's in the middle of the jungle and she isn't." Cameron looks back, pointing her thumb at the car's driver. "Anyway, I think you'd fit in just fine with some training. It'll take some work, but I'm betting Croft can show you some tricks."

"I was thinking of doing that, actually." Lara smiles.

"Good, 'cause we're here." Nicky stops the car.

Sam looks outside as the car parks next to a line of motorboats and a small wooden cabin. She quickly realizes how thankful she is for wearing boots when the ground below her is imprinted with the pattern from the bottom of her boots. The soil is a rich, moist brown, unlike the thick patches of grass they passed on the way here. Thick trees are everywhere in the horizon, all around the brown waters of the river.

A sullen looking man stands by one of the boats, looking very much bored and disinterested. He sports an undercut with thick, light brown hair swept back in what seems to be some half-assed mohawk. Strange as it is, it suits his honey skin and long, sharp jaw. He would look right at home in some nineties' rock band poster, if not for his obligatory jungle gear. His moss green eyes lighten up in relief at the sight of them.

"There you all are. I've been waiting for half an hour in this heat." He sulks, wiping a thin sheen of sweat from his forehead.

"Are you our contact?" Lara asks, feeling a little sorry for him.

"Yeah. Here's the boat." He gestures to the small white boat behind him. It looks worn, but functional. "I'm going out to get some food for the team."

"You're not going to ask us if we're all right?" Cameron teases. "We did get ambushed, earlier."

"You're fine." The man bluntly says. "You're always fine."

"Sheesh, always such a grouch." Cameron rolls her eyes until she notices something. "Wait, why are you all alone?"

"When Dell told me about a bunch of people wanting to kill you _again_ , I was already here waiting for you. I wanted to pick up Connor to go with me, but Stevie told me to stay put and wait."

"Oh," Lara says, although she doesn't recognize any of those names. "Thanks."

Sam does feel a pang of sympathy for him. It couldn't have been nice to have to stand in this heat for hours. "Same here."

"Wait," Nicky's face brightens considerably. "How's Stevie?"

"Your girlfriend's eating all our food." He deadpans. "As usual."

"You know what, I'll go with you." Cameron says, with a shrug. "I want some ice cream."

"Fine, just don't expect me to pay for them." He chuckles lightly as he gives them a nod with a smile so faint it could be imaginary. "Be careful and don't even think about touching the water."

Cameron takes the car keys from Nicky's hand and gives them a wave as she follows him away. "I'd get some for you guys too, but I'm too much of an asshole."

Sam dumbly watches her leave with the man. "Did our bodyguard just dump us?" She finally says, after the beat up car leaves the parking lot.

Nicky coughs loudly, feigning offense as she sits on the boat.

"One of our bodyguards." Sam corrects, a bit sheepishly.

Lara steps into the small boat gently, turning around slowly as it sways in place. "Have a little faith in your knight in shining armor, Sam." She chuckles a bit as she offers her hand to the Japanese.

"Chivalry isn't dead, hm?" Sam giggles as she takes the hand offered to her, jokingly skipping into the boat. It rocks in response, but Lara makes sure to automatically steady her with a hand to the small of her back.

"My lady." Lara bows, making way for Sam to have the seat in front of her.

"Certainly, Sir Croft." Sam says in a snooty voice befitting of an actress in a medieval play, tilting her chin up snobbishly. "My, how charming you are."

Nicky chuckles as Lara 'escorts' her to her seat. "Stop being obnoxiously adorable, you two, you're making me miss my girlfriend."

Sam makes herself comfortable on the wooden seats. The paint is slightly worn, but she doesn't mind it much as she turns her camera on again. "Wait 'till you see all our matching shirts at home. Or our double sleeping bag."

Nicky switches the engine on, the old machinery exhaling a sputtering cough. "I can't tell if you're joking or being serious."

Lara laughs nervously. "We usually use it on our backpacking trips."

The boat begins to move, and Nicky takes her seat near the engine, the amusement clear on her face. "As I said, obnoxiously adorable."

Sam points the camera at the direction of the rental, which is steadily growing farther and farther. "Alright, this is it. As of this moment, we're officially going to the Amazon forest."

After a second of having the camera aimed at her face, Nicky realizes she's supposed to say something. "They'll take us to the the camp. If everything goes well, we'll pack up and join the rest of our people at the location of the artifact as soon as we can." she loudly says as her curly hair is waved around by the winds, just to make sure her voice is audible.

"And here is our archaeologist extraordinaire." Sam grins like she always does when she catches Lara on the camera. "Let's have our resident hottie's two cents, hm?"

Lara brings down her arms, relieved that Sam's not focusing on her breasts _... Again_. "For now, all we know is that the artifact seems to be some sort of Incan pyramid of undetermined age and purpose. If the report filed by the archaeologist before me is true, then we may be looking at a clue to the location of El Dorado." Lara says it with an air of reverence, her eyes locked in wonder. The ever widening grin reminds Sam that's she's about to go on one of her tirades again—it's the same grin back when they were looking for Yamatai, before everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

The documentarist almost feels a bit sorry for Cameron when Lara tried to interrogate her for every drop of information. At least Sam herself was fast asleep during that conversation. It's nice seeing her smile like this again, though. It makes Sam unable to hold in her relief upon seeing her this glad again. _Nerd_.

"If all goes well, then we may be close to solving a mystery that has lasted for centuries." Lara emphasizes, as her voice gets louder and quicker in excitement. "Ever since the invasion—"

"Lara, honey," Sam interrupts, almost guilty for snapping her out of her reverie. "Maybe you'd want to explain everything for us people who aren't history nerds?"

 _Honey._ Lara blushes, but she can't tell if it's because of embarrassment or the term of endearment. "Of course. Um, most people who study history know that the Incans disappeared around the fifteen hundreds because they were attacked by invaders who wanted gold, a commodity they were very rich with. However this is only the tip of the iceberg. The invasion started years and years ago, leading to the civilization's decline. According to historical evidence, the Incas' last stand was supposed to be at the city of Macchu Picchu, but during the day of the final battle, it was reported that the highest officials, such as the shamans and the strongest warriors, were gone without a trace."

Sam nods on as she listens, watching as Lara makes these gestures with her hands that she always makes when she's excited. The brunette's feet tap into the ground as she resists the urge to pace around, as she really doesn't want to tip the boat over and possibly humiliate them in front of their future audience.

"The reason why Macchu Picchu was defended to their deaths is critical to our investigation. The city was rumored to have riches beyond the human imagination, with golden pyramids and pathways, goblets encased with gleaming jewels, and so on." Lara recites perfectly, like she's reading out of a textbook. "In other words, _El Dorado_."

"But it's not?" Sam prods.

Lara shakes her head. "Well, the only clue we had that it even existed was from official records of a defector. Apparently—"

The boat's engine sputters uselessly as they slowly halt to a stop, when it coughs one last time before it dies. For a moment, the three women simply look at each other like they have no idea what's going on.

Nicky hurriedly screws off the gas tank's cap. "Sam, that camera's got a flashlight, right?"

"Yeah." The silence of the engine suddenly feels eerie to her. "What's going on?"

"Can I borrow it?"

"Sure." She tentatively steps forward, mindful to not trip over anything. She flicks a switch and shines the light in the hole.

"Fuckers." Nicky swears.

"What is it?" Sam leans down to get a better view.

The hairs on the back of Lara's neck stand upright. She has a bad, bad feeling that isn't going away any time soon. The sound of Nicky explaining mechanical terms to Sam quickly fades away into incorrigible noise as Lara's eyes widen in shock.

"Get down!"

A powerful tackle lands Sam in the murky brown waters, but not before she hears the sound of gunshots pierce the air.

* * *

 **Who's up for some flustered Lara+ naughty Sam + wet clothes action?**


	4. Smack

**And so the Salara begins. Since there are other awesome fics that emphasize on the "but you're my best friend" plot, I'll be focusing on another kind of conflict that was inspired by the wonderful Carmilla. By the way, if you don't watch it, you should because canon f/f.**

* * *

 _"That's it." Lara carefully eyes Sam's form. "Put your hand lower, here." She reaches out her still bruised hand and patiently guides her downwards. "You'll get that flap of skin between your thumb and pointer finger torn out by the gun when you shoot, otherwise."_

 _"Ew." Sam chuckles, her aim going off slightly. She readjusts and aims for the target's head. It takes a while, but she lines it up nicely._

 _"Wait." Lara stops her with that one word. "Go for the body."_

 _Sam looks puzzled. "What? Why? I thought you were always supposed to go for the head in video games?"_

 _Lara chuckles, but not too hard. The stitches on her stomach feel uncomfortable as it is. "It's better to hit them in the body than go for the head and miss."_

 _"That makes sense." Sam aims again, making sure to breathe in and out calmly. She pulls the trigger. The recoil takes her somewhat by surprise and the noise if far louder than she thought it would be, but she looks forward to the look on Lara's face when she sees her bullseye._

 _The bullet hole sits by the outer rim of the target, veering off to the left from where she aimed. "Oh, come on." She groans._

 _"You hit it." Lara puts a hand on her shoulder, a hint of pride on her face. Without warning, she moves behind her and guides her hands with hers._

 _Sam knows she has never noticed the subtle strength in Lara's hands, but they're all she seems to notice now. They're gentle with her, but she can feel the underlying power under the press of her fingers._

 _"Relax." Lara's warm breath sends a shiver down Sam's spine as it ghosts over her earlobe._

 _Sam isn't even paying attention to what Lara is doing anymore. The swell of her breasts is firm against her back, and she feels her hands start to waver._

 _Holy shit._

* * *

 _Shit, shit, shit._

If the documentaries Lara insists on watching every time she's in front of the television are true, then everything in the Amazon is crawling with the creepiest shit that all want to kill her. She thought it was fine, because she has two mercenaries with her and Lara too. She figured she'd be fine as long as she didn't start licking colorful frogs, but now she's in the water that, according to the documentaries, have monster fish as tall as she is, swarms of piranha, and apparently a type of worm that crawls into your urethra.

Sam feels something scaly and slimy brush across her hand and she suddenly really regrets not punching the name of Lara's new boss into a search engine because she's running—or rather, swimming—away from a bunch of people who'd like to kill her for the second time today, and she's really starting to wonder if the old hag they're working for is just trying to get them all killed.

The water is brown, murky, and just plain wrong. Every time a fish darts around to avoid them, Sam just hopes it's not going to eat her or something equally unpleasant, and every brush again't some floating leaves and fallen branches leaves her wondering if she's going to break out into a rash that will cause her skin to break out into blisters and turn her into a vampire.

Regardless, she continues to swim and swim. It's absolutely not helping that they're swimming against the current, or that she's quickly running out of breath and she can't just go up and inhale, lest a bullet ends up in her head.

Lara's hand is like iron around her wrist, pulling her and urging her to follow and go to safety. Sam feels something scaly and slimy brush against her hand. She sputters as her nose flows with water, trying to get the taste of it and whatever lives in the river out of her mouth. A pounding in her head persists with determination, a feeling she recognizes from all the times she tried too hard to swim to the deep end of the pool when she was little, only to come swimming back after swallowing too much water.

The river isn't rushing with torrents of water, thankfully for them. It's only because of it's relative calmness that they can hear one single male voice that sounds fairly annoyed. He sounds like he's probably yelling, judging by how loud he sounds, even from under water.

Sam is certain that this would mean more swallowing water and less breathing for her, until she sees Nicky's head stick out and stay there. Lara's hair flows strangely gracefully in the water as her cheeks bulge with her air. She's holding her hand, as always has, like she will always do.

Lara emerges from the water and pulls Sam with her. The documentarist takes a long gasp of air as she wipes away the water in which who-knows-what lived in. She doesn't have to do that much, because Lara soon holds her up to the best of her ability with an arm around her, her legs working hard to keep both of them afloat.

"Lara-" she coughs. "I can still swim." She sputters, her own legs colliding with Lara's as she kicks and tries to stay afloat. She briefly looks down. It seems that the fall had pushed Lara's top down a bit, revealing just a hint of cleavage. "I'm not complaining about that."

Those five words render the woman who wiped out the Solarii speechless.

Of course, she found the time for joking because Nicky is completely fine and still on the rocking boat, looking down at them with amusement and pity. "Guess we'll have to stop here."

"Because you didn't tell them we'd be meeting."

Sam tears her eyes to a man standing by the water. His ski mask conceals most of his face but the pale skin around his eyes and the hazel, yet almost unnaturally yellow, shade of his rather unimpressed looking eyes. The entirety of his clothes are colored to fit with the foliage around him.

No wonder she didn't notice him standing there before, especially with the speed that they were going at.

"We were supposed to meet ways from here, that's why." Nicky says, steering the boat to land. It molds nicely into the moist ground. She looks at the two women in the water. "Let me help you up. You don't wanna stay there for too long."

Sam doesn't need any extra encouragement to take her up on her offer, her wet clothes heavy with water as she steps onto the mostly dry land with a squish in her step. She pulls Lara up again, but not before asking what she's been thinking for a very long while. "What the hell is going on?"

"You were attacked by men on motorcycles a while ago." The man begins, motioning at them to follow him as he treks into the forest, over fallen leaves and under low branches. "I received Cameron's call. She left so they would go after her and not you. It's not the first time the asshole's gotten people sent for her head."

Sam gives his back a long, good look as the mosquitoes buzz around her ear. Again, she vows to look up their boss once she has internet. She waves her hand around to make them go. Her backpack seems to get heavier with every step she takes. She briefly ponders if she should empty it of the water before resuming their walk. "Once again, what the hell is going on?"

"I'm just here to make sure you all get to the camp." The man ducks under the branches that nearly poke his eyes out. "And give you explanations, which I'm sure my illustrious friend Cameron did not give you."

"We were in a hurry, jackass." Nicky chuckles, relieved. She seems to be glad that he's here.

"Where are we going?" Lara keeps a keen eye on her surroundings. She stays close to Sam's side, absentmindedly fingering the pistol at her side.

"Camp." The man says. "You'll need to dry off before we join everyone else."

Nicky nods. "You don't want to get trench foot, trust me."

"I came to make sure you had two of us here, just in case." His voice doesn't change as he said the next part. "Cameron suggested that I cluck like a chicken and flap my wings so you wouldn't miss me. You did, and I yelled at you but none of you heard me. So I shot."

Sam snorts. "And did you do the chicken dance?"

"Yes, but not loud enough."

She pauses. Not the answer she was looking for. There, in front of them, is a camp. A rather large tent stands erected by an unlit campfire, surrounded by bushes and trees. The canopy of leaves overhead are thin enough to allow rays of the afternoon sun down to warm Sam's dripping form ever so slightly.

"I set up camp. Go change inside." The man says, turning himself around.

"Thanks... Um..." Lara continues to look at his covered face.

"Thanks." Sam just says. Unlike Lara, she never bothered to remember her professors' names corrects, and so she opted to just not call them by name instead.

"Call me Fields."

"Okay." Sam hangs around a little bit to ask him a question she's been wanting to know for a while. "Why don't you take off your mask?"

"I've been wearing this for over an hour." Fields says. When the two women don't catch his meaning, he crosses his arms and looks at them like he can't believe they don't know what he's talking about. "My hair is already matted. I will wash it before I let anyone see it."

Lara finds it ironic that she's the one dripping wet and doesn't care a lick about who's looking. "Oh. Okay, then." She says, although she can't help exchanging a look with Sam- a habit that's starting to become all the more frequent.

They don't listen to the idle chatter from outside the tent as the duo's backpacks drop to the ground in undignified thumps. Sam immediately begins stripping herself of her jacket, throwing it to a pile by her bag. The shirt that hangs to her frame is tossed mindlessly on the jacket, revealing her usual burgundy sports bra.

Lara chuckles. Cameron had told them to bring their most comfortable clothes before they left London. Of course, even Sam's most comfortable bras showed a generous amount of cleavage. She usually used them to lounge around the house without a shirt, a habit that explained why Lara frequently had to remind herself to keep an eye on her cooking before she got too distracted and burned them into a crisp and set off the fire alarm again.

"Are you done looking?" Sam playfully asks, snapping Lara out of her unintended daydream.

Somehow, Lara knows that's not all the slightly shorter woman means. "Y-Yeah." She stammers, before quickly removing her own clothing.

With a knowing smirk, Sam peels her off her pants, completely aware of the wide-eyed stare aimed at her. She gingerly bends down to open her bag, smiling to herself when she doesn't hear the sound of Lara's clothes dropping anywhere anymore.

She's got her attention.

Sam has no words for how thankful she is that Cameron had the foresight to tell them to stuff their important objects inside their respective diving bags inside their backpacks. She had thought that it was silly to put a bag inside a bag.

The sound of shuffling behind her catches Sam's attention. She turns around after she puts her dry clothes safely on the ground, wiping her face with a small pink towel with kitty prints.

Lara's back is turned to her and the archaeologist is stiffly dropping her pants.

 _Oh, Lara_. Sam takes a moment to admire the toned back before her, slick with moisture, when she hatches an idea. "Lara, open my clasp."

The brunette turns around, her mouth gaping like a fish. "What?"

Sam holds in her laughter. "Unclasp my bra, okay?"

Lara rigidly nods as Sam gingerly turns around. She's reminded of that time when they were on vacation in the Bahamas. Sam had insisted on paying for the tickets and the hotels and all she asked of Lara was to lather some sunblock on her back. She didn't expect the Japanese to untie her bikini top, leading to the poor Englishwoman squirted it all over the sofa. She had to mutter a very sincere apology to the cleaning staff afterwards.

 _Awkward. Hot. Embarrassing._

"Lara?" Sam's call brings her back to the situation at hand for the second time today.

"O-Of course."

Sam feels her bra get loose and she shimmies out of it. The article of clothing drops to the floor and she gets ready to give Lara a very nice surprise, only to find said woman shutting her eyes tighter than Sam's jeans. Her face looks constipated. The only clue that she's actually enjoying it is the flush in her cheeks that has spread to the tips of her ears.

"Holy shit." Sam laughs, flinging her panties behind her somewhere. She dries herself some more with the towel, reveling in the quivering bottom lip of one Lara Croft. "You've been looking before, so why not look now?"

 _That's an offer_. "I-I... Uh, I just..."

Sam's snickers grow increasingly louder with every stammer coming from the Croft before she decides to mercifully stop her teasing for now. Pulling on her dry pair of panties, she barely restrains from whistling loudly at the sight of Lara taking off hers.

"You're too easy to tease, Lara." Sam giggles mischievously.

Lara breathes in relief when she finds her mostly clothed and definitely not naked anymore. "You're absolutely aggravating." She laughs, although there's no hiding the shadow of a blush on her cheeks.

Sam gives her an over the top and cheesy wink. "You know you like it."

Once Lara pulls her top on, she makes sure not to stammer uselessly at the question again, instead choosing to reply with just a chuckle. "Come on. I'm dying to figure out what's going on."

"You're not the only one." Sam says, heading to the tent flap. As she heads outside, she gives Lara's backside a little slap.

The small gasp she draws from the Londoner's lips brings a smile to her face.

* * *

 ***scurries to research about archaeology***

 **Also, guys, I've been really busy since I'm moving to Vancouver tomorrow, so I admit that I wasn't very careful with spelling and grammar checking here. Please tell me if I missed anything. Thanks.**


	5. Wife Material

**Phew** , **moving is tiring work. Also, waiting for the fandom to exit hibernation. When is ROTR being released again?**

* * *

Sam never thought she'd ever have her stomach grumbling for canned food. She believes she's only had them once, during that backpacking trip with Lara where she blew out all her money and couldn't find an ATM. However, here she is, rather impatiently waiting on a few cans' worth of canned beef being sizzled on the paraffin stove.

It's been a long day.

Lara yawns as the rays of the sun begin to darken. Under the layers of leaves over them, it almost feels like nighttime already. She wouldn't mind an early night, recalling that she didn't exactly have the most restful sleep on the way here.

"I hope having Nicky with you was a good decision." Fields crosses his legs as the aforementioned woman pokes at the beef with her spatula. "Cameron can be... Intense."

"Hey, she didn't strip the corpses in front of our partners, this time." Nicky sees him looking very unconvinced. "But she did take all their stuff again." She finishes.

He nods. "I thought so." The man turns to them, his face still hidden behind his ski mask. "As I'm sure you both must have no idea what's going on, I'll fill you in immediately."

"Finally." Sam sighs in relief.

"Two months ago, a customer contacted us to guard him in an expedition to the Amazon rainforest. He was a professor from the University of Edgewood."

"The University of Edgewood?" Lara almost jolts up. "I considered going there. It's got one of the best archaeologists teaching as professors, I would have loved to study there."

Sam giggles the way she always does when Lara gushes about these things. "Nerd. But nah, if you went there, you wouldn't have met little old me."

"That would've been a disaster." The brunette says, with all the honesty in her. "I would be a vampire if you didn't drag me out to town every single night."

"What would you do without me?"

Nicky smirks as she folds over the beef. "You'd probably starve. You look like the type."

"That wouldn't be too far off." Lara sheepishly blushes before she turns her attention to Fields. "Wait, this professor's name isn't Gordon Eztli, is it?"

Fields nods quietly. "That's him."

"Are you serious?" Lara doesn't seem like she believes what he's saying. "I've read all his papers. He's spent over fifteen years studying South American archaeology. He's a genius."

"And a huge jerk, based on what everyone's saying about him." Sam finishes for her.

"That, he is." Nicky mutters to herself as she scoops the beef into one of four plates.

Sam proudly slings her arm over Lara's shoulder. "Hey, these brainy types can't all be hot and adorable like this one."

"Both of you are right." Fields' eyebrow twitches ever so slightly in annoyance. "He insulted our intelligence by insisting that he hired almost ten armed mercenaries 'just in case'. The boss knew something was strange when a single professor hired us to escort him to a rainforest and refused to tell us why."

"Then why'd you take it?" Sam wonders. "If he was such a jerk, you could've told him to suck it and leave."

"Because he had very bad breath. I don't want my penis anywhere near that mouth."

Once again, she wonders if he's being serious.

"The boss wanted us to keep an eye on him. If we found anything that made her want to take him out, we would have done that."

"Until he escaped." Lara says, deep in thought.

Nicky hands the plates out one by one. "He had this thick leather booklet with him. It was old. He never took notes in it, he just carried it around like it was his baby." She takes a seat and takes the fork into her hand. "He looked more fucked up than the last time I saw him."

"You've seen him before?" Lara isn't able to hide the excitement in her voice.

"I didn't attend his lectures, but yeah. I went to Edgewood for Mechanical Engineering."

"Wow." Lara seems impressed, and it's no wonder that she is.

Sam remembers that name. "I heard getting into there was around as hard as getting into our university, and that's pretty fucking hard."

"Graduated with honors." Fields adds, only adding to their awe. "But only because she had some extra encouragement from her girlfriend. She would have spent days smoking and fixing microwaves, otherwise."

"Wait, do you have your radio?" Nicky beams and doesn't even bother reprimanding him.

Fields smiles knowingly under his mask. "Go crazy." He throws her his small transmitter, watching as she gleefully retreats into the tent.

"So... Girlfriend, huh?" Sam can hear her chattering away in there.

"Yes. Also, continuing. Cameron suggested that we tie him up and punch him until he tells us everything, but that's bad for business."

Lara can't believe she was actually serious about that. "I think she mentioned that a while ago."

"She was an impatient little shit and knocked him out with sleeping pills, though."

"Oh."

Lara can see the befuddlement in his eyes. "She tried to open the book, but accidentally put her thumb over the keyhole, but something pricked her finger and she dropped it."

"A keyhole?" Sam whistles. "That's some serious book. I had one of those when I was thirteen. It was my diary."

"She actually tried to pry it with a knife, and it still didn't work." Fields sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The cameras we set around the camp showed him exiting with it in hand that night. He didn't come back. This pyramid is our only lead. He insisted that we camp there for almost two week so he could wrote down notes and such."

Lara swallows the sliver of beef in her mouth. "We should get there as soon as possible, then."

Sam gapes at the woman beside her, putting down her emptied plate. She does not want to the the one to wash off all that grease. "What, so you're not even going to ask about the people who tried to kill us?"

"Oh, them." Fields says, almost like they're an afterthought. "Cameron is looking into them right now. There's a high chance that she ruffled a few feathers and someone just wants her head."

They wait a few seconds for him to talk again, but he doesn't. He just sits there with his slightly creepy, almost yellow eyes, looking to them to continue the conversation.

"So... That's it?"

"I think so."

"Wow. That's..." Lara looks a tad bit disappointed. "That's not a lot of information."

"I'm sure you'll find more when we get there tomorrow." He reassures them. "The professor certainly did."

"If you say so." The archaeologist doesn't sound very sure.

He frowns, the outline of his lips curving slightly under his mask. "Very well, then. Has anyone seen my shampoo? It's the magenta bottle. I could've sworn I left it around here..."

"Nope, haven't seen it." Sam tells him, after a brief moment of looking around.

"Damn." He curses. "I bought it from France. It keeps your hair very smooth. I hope Cameron didn't steal it again because she forgot to bring hers."

While Lara is too busy taking out a small book from her bag to notice, Sam's eyes widen in realization. "No way. I got loads of them when I visited Paris. I'm all out, though..."

"I order mine in bulk." Fields grins. "I'm going to look in the tent. Do look out for anything strange."

Lara has already opened her phone, zooming in to the picture of the pyramid sent to her. She's squinting her eyes to make out the symbols etched into the aged stone, even after she's zoomed in. It definitely doesn't help that the picture is taken diagonally. The photographer's intention is clearly to give an overview of it rather than give a clear sight of the markings. Judging by how quickly she's flipping through the pages, Sam quickly deduces that Lara recognizes at least a little of what's there.

Sam silently darts behind the tent and switches her camera on with a quick flick of her finger. "And here is the elusive Lara Croft in her natural habitat, nerding it up while still looking good enough to eat." She whispers, just loud enough for the video camera to pick up the noise. She's sure the overly girly sounds of Nicky chattering from inside the tent wouldn't be too much of a bother. Her video blogging days are in hibernation, but she's still got it.

The brunette's lips are tight as her brows furrow in focus. She's hunched over her book and phone, something that Sam would usually never allow her to do. She only needs to stick out her tongue out of the corner of her mouth to look more driven, or at least more humorous.

"Now this is wife material right here," Sam circles the Englishwoman in a slow and steady sphere, slowly closing the distance between them. "Smart, hot, and she kicks ass like it's nobody's business."

It takes a little while, but Lara's frantic flipping slows down as the voice of the documentarist draws nearer. A small smile tugs on her lips. "Sam..."

"It makes me almost want to..." She slinks her arms around the brunette's slim waist, her breaths ghosting over the length of her neck. "No, it definitely makes me want to do this."

Lara honestly expected a pair of lips to trail the tingling spot left by the warmth of her breath, but only now does she know how much she actually likes how it feels. She finds herself baring more of her neck, almost infuriated with how slow the other woman is moving.

And then, not two seconds later, she realizes what they're doing.

"Wait." Her voice is so weak as she wonders just when she began being so easy to wind up. "Sam, wait." She hasn't got the desire to tell her to stop.

"Lara?"

The only way the archaeologist can describe what's happening to her is by comparing it to her own chest jumping up to her throat. Sam's warm, brown eyes look into hers with a mixture of both befuddlement and smoky lust that seems to have sprung up from absolutely nowhere at all. At least, that's what Lara tells herself.

Sam has been leaving doors to the bathroom open too often. She's been smiling at her for a tad bit longer than usual and the shorts she wears to bed are getting shorter and shorter.

She knows that Lara knows what's going on. "Do you want me to stop?"

Lara's mouth stays shut until after she thinks her answer through. Finally, after seconds of looking down at Sam's glossy lips, she takes her eyes off them. "I don't know."

Sam is quiet for the longest time. For a moment, she wonders if she's upset or even angry, but the concerns that build up with every second that the Japanese doesn't speak or do anything instantly crashes down when Lara feels a very much friendly kiss to the side of her head. "Okay."

She doesn't even sound disappointed. In fact, she sounds like she was expecting it before she even turned off her camera.

Lara leans her head back, finding comfort on a shoulder that she's fallen asleep on many times before. "What are you doing, Sam?"

"You know what I'm doing. It's okay." She kisses her cheek, a habit she's been nursing for a while now. "I'll wait."

Lara knows it's not that okay, though. She's an observant woman. She wouldn't have lived through everything she's had to survive if she wasn't. That's exactly why she noticed that this thing Sam is pursuing, this unspoken tension, it all started after Yamatai.

In other words, when Lara Croft stopped being known as the bookish and brainy student and became Lara Croft, her hero.

* * *

 **There, now you know what the conflict is. I did say I got the inspiration from Carmilla.**


	6. You Have a Video Call

**Alright, so I guess I shouldn't hold off the explanations for too long. Here's a part of it.**

 **When Sam and Lara finally fuck, please remind me to make an English Muffin joke.**

* * *

 _The screen blips to life. At least Sam's got a new enough laptop to have a built in webcam in it, unlike Lara's fossil of a machine in her room._

 _She would have done things the Sam way, had she been less rigid, but the thought of sitting for what seems to be some sort of question and answer session for her job in her normal top but only a pair of panties is not her cup of tea. She has no idea how Sam managed to actually do that in a job interview, that one time._

 _"So I guess you didn't think we were playing some kind of prank on you." Cameron's face is completely calm on her screen._

 _Lara doesn't know that the blonde is the one without pants, but it's not like it would make her less nervous if she did. "I thought about it."_

 _"It's a good thing you called, or else I would have had to give you a surprise visit. A few of our other colleagues just chucked our email to the junk folder although it had a logo and all that!"_

 _Lara can see why. Had she been less desperate, she would have deleted that email too. "I hope you're not being serious..."_

 _"I read your files. You've got that cute girl living with you now, right?" Cameron raises her hands innocently once she sees a hint of hostility in Lara's eyes. "Whoa, whoa, I didn't mean that kind of visit. I meant the kind with pizza and beer. I've got a pal who works at this restaurant. He makes the best stuff."_

 _The tension in Lara's brows doesn't recede. "What do you mean you've read my files and what do you want with her?"_

 _"Nothing." Cameron reaches for something out of sight, her hand coming back with a glass of water that she brings to her lips. She takes a gulp, licking her lips with a sly smile on her face. It doesn't look suspicious, no, but somewhat curious. "We need you. You admitted to slaughtering a whole island of these weirdo guys, didn't you?"_

 _Yes she did, and she humiliated her family's legacy and got cut off from her university for doing so. "Yes." She sounds vaguely regretful. "I did do that."_

 _"My guys looked you up, Lara Croft." She rolls the name curiously with her tongue, like she's sure she'll have to say it a lot more. "Your parents left you a big inheritance when they died. They were archaeologists too, one of the best, if not the best. You were an honored student at your university. They wouldn't have let you go on an expedition like that, if you weren't."_

 _Lara tries to keep a straight face. Anyone with internet or a newspaper subscription can look that part of her up._

 _"And then they covered it all up. You tried to let other people know and they called you delusional, at best. Ancient samurai? Tyrannical Japanese goddess?" She picks up a stack of papers from her desk and flips it around. "Hardcore."_

 _Lara gulps. That's a copy of her thesis. "They kept it private. How did you get that?"_

 _"We're resourceful." Cameron unhelpfully answers. "Can't tell you any more before you join us. It's bad for business. But I can tell you why you called little old me today."_

 _She doesn't like her tone._

 _"You need us, Croft. We need you. We need someone who won't and can't bail out on us. I know you won't do that." She leans in a bit closer to the camera, looking just a bit sympathetic. "Don't mean to be an asshole or anything, but you're living in a small place with that girlfriend of yours, huh? Gal pal, whatever." She doesn't give Lara a chance to deny it. "Yeah, so you've got a shit load of money in the bank but you're not using it."_

 _And that gets Lara's full attention. "Who are you?"_

 _"I told you in the email, Croft. I'm a mercenary, and I say you're lookin' to prove yourself to the parents, your university, everyone." Cameron can tell she hit the nail on the head when she sees the archaeologist bite her lip. "So you're that type, huh? Not gonna live of your mom and dad's dough unless you know you deserve it. Guess you don't like everyone calling the new Croft a joke."_

 _The only thing Lara's thinking shows easily in her face. How did she know?_

 _"Oh, come on, we fucked up people don't think that differently." Cameron answers her question before it's even asked. "But it takes a special blend of fucked up to kill a whole island of people for one girl, among other things. Don't get me wrong, that was good. It took serious action hero shit to do that. And don't worry about her. Bet she didn't tell you her parents disowned her for backing the delusional archaeologist, huh! I think she'll want this as bad as you do."_

 _She won't admit it, but the blonde has completely reeled her in. As much as she wants too, she doesn't press the 'disconnect' on the bottom of the screen. "What do you want?"_

 _"A Croft." She answers. "I'm guessing you know about that one job your parents never completed?"_

* * *

Nighttime can't roll in quickly enough, but it mercifully comes before they can pass out in the most undignified manner on the ground. They do receive an amused look from Nicky and a vaguely jealous one from Fields when they unroll their double sleeping bag.

"My girlfriend didn't want one." He explains to them, his mask finally put away. His skin is so pale that he looks very much sick, although the analytical look in his eyes doesn't look diminished one bit. His hair is a rich dark brown that parts to the left, long enough to look like he spent plenty of money on it but short enough to not get in his eyes or be a hassle. "She said it took up too much space and wouldn't be of much use if we were separated."

"Mine did." Nicky slings an arm around his shoulder, shaking him amiably. "She said we'll get one once we get back."

Sam yawns tiredly as she pulls it over them both, stretching in her track shorts and a purple shirt with a cartoon character plastered obnoxiously on the front. "What time is it?"

Fields takes his pocket watch from the side of his sleeping bag, as if anyone actually uses those anymore. "It's eight forty six."

"Are you sleepy?" Lara thoughtfully asks.

Sam leans the entire weight of her body on Lara's shoulder, the side of her face squishing against the hard bone. "You're not? It's been one hell of a day."

Lara looks at the small lamp at the middle of the tent. "Lights out, then?"

"Fair enough." Nicky drags herself to the lamp just enough to turn it off, then falls back to her previous position.

Fields stands up, dusting his pants. "I'll take first watch." He steps over then various cluttered items, making sure not trip and fall in the dark.

"Y'know, I'm not feeling too tired." Nicky says, following the same path her companion took. "I'll just be on the radio outside. Gonna go keep the grump some company before he becomes a hermit."

"We'll just be here." Lara lies down, not realizing until now how much she misses camping with Sam. The smell of the forest brings back memories. "And be careful."

"I've got Fields and Fields has me." She confidently pulls her jacket on and corrects her glasses. "He's one sharp fucker and we don't have Cameron's yapping to distract us, and I'm gonna rig the place up. You'll be fine, but keep your weapons close."

"Alright then." Lara feels Sam's head droop on her shoulder. "I think Sam here is just about gone."

"I'm already gone." She drapes an arm over Lara's shoulder.

Nicky looks over her shoulder before she goes out into the dark. "Completely, by the looks of it."

Once the sounds of her footsteps fade into the background of crickets, Lara lets her head down. Her loose hair lies in a halo around her, only broken when she turns to look for Sam. Usually, her arms are loosely caressing her hair or the small of her back at this point, but they're simply hanging loosely by her sides.

"Are you okay?" Lara concernedly looks down. It's not the first question that pops to her mind, which is "Are you mad at me?".

"Hmm." She hums, but doesn't move. When her heavy eyes spot Lara with an obviously guilty look on her face, she finally makes her move. Her arm slips around Lara's back, fingers drawing indiscernible patterns on the smooth fabric. "Stop worrying, silly. It's okay."

"Look, it's not like I don't want to-" She immediately stammers.

"Shh." Sam hushes her, snuggling closer into the brunette's chest. She takes a deep breath, relishing the scent of her newly washed shirt. "I know. I've seen the looks."

"Oh." It's the only thing she can say to that.

"Just c'mere." Sam looks up at her with her sleepy eyes and rises just enough to make their noses touch. "The whole best friend thing's kind of a bitch, I know."

She doesn't have the will to correct her right now. Lara holds her breath as a warm breath on her lips makes her quiver despite the heat of the covers and the body pressed to her. Her head tells herself to back off when Sam's lips draw closer to hers, but she herself, and additionally what's inside her pants, would like to argue otherwise.

It's two against one, and she doesn't resist. A pang of disappointment hits her when Sam veers just enough to miss. She kisses the spot right beside Lara's mouth, only the corners of their lips touching briefly enough to be platonic but too long to be considered that. The Englishwoman knows she can just press down on the behind of her best friend's neck and bring her back where she should be, but she doesn't.

"I'll wait." Sam smiles, and it brings so much relief to the other half of their unlikely duo to see it. She exhales a slow, long breath into the supple skin of Lara's neck and loses herself in darkness.

Seconds after the breaths stabilize and draw out, Lara finally replies. "I know." She whispers is low enough so as to not wake her, and Sam smiles.

She finds herself laced in an endless darkness. A cacophony of thoughts speak out with observations and wonders, of what she'll have for breakfast tomorrow and how smooth the chocolate brown hair between her fingers are. They're all spoken in her own thoughts, but when she prods a little further, one voice differs.

This is her mind and her dreams, the only voices that should exist here are her own, but something lurks beneath the surface of the inky darkness.

There's one voice that differs. It whispers with one voice that carries a thousand tones, the sweetness laced with an inexplicable sour note of a darkness from ages long before.

 _Power. Strength. Dominance._ It speaks in a language that her mind doesn't recognize, but it somehow speaks the meanings into the very consciousness of the descendant of Himiko.

Yes, she needs them all. Lara will throw herself into danger again just because of her. She can't let that happen, she won't. Danger is coming and she can sense it, but there's no way she can catch up to Lara's league.

Why would they need a documentarist, anyway? Why would they need her? This is a mercenary operation.

Most of all, why would Lara need her?

The voice swallows up these thoughts that ring and bounce from the walls of her mind like a thirsty camel drinks from the clear waters of an oasis. The Nishimura's voice still drowns it out by a landslide, but it will grow and it will take over.

Himiko always does.

* * *

Alright, someone in the reviews reminded me that I should really start explaining wtf is going on, so I'm gonna do that. Enjoy.


	7. Big Fish

__"Your old man has a permanent limp, doesn't he?" Cameron doesn't need to look at her files to tell her that. She's memorized every little bit of it. "Some kind of twitch on his hip. Your mom's shoulder can't bend backwards."__

 _She's right. Lara doesn't want to admit it, but she's right. Her parents had told when when she was young that they got into a car accident while abroad._

 _Was any of it ever true?_

 _"He dislocated his hip so bad it took him months to even use a crutch. Your ma's shoulder was so close to being torn off that the medics had to fly her on a helicopter to find a decent hospital."_

 _"Why?" She inches herself closer to the laptop screen. "How?"_

 _ _Cameron doesn't answer directly. "Should you try to find a place that doesn't want to be found? Can you really call it a dig site if it's not dead?"__

* * *

"Sam?"

She stirs, but doesn't open her eyes. Sam buries her face further in Lara's chest and groans with annoyance.

The Englishwoman herself chuckles. An alarm clock has a snooze button, but she doesn't. "Wake up, Sam. It's time for breakfast."

The mention of food doesn't wake her. "Hmm..." She doesn't even make a move.

That's strange. Usually, the mention of sunny side ups and hashbrowns is all she needs to wake her up. "You didn't have a good night's sleep?"

"No." Her answer is almost too gentle to be heard.

"I'll ask if anyone has some coffee, then." Lara waits for Sam to get off of her, but she doesn't.

The sounds of talking don't help her get back to sleep. Finally, she rolls over onto her stomach, letting her best friend move. She breathes slowly and tries to calm herself and fall into sleep again, her limbs still heavy with sleep.

She feels exhausted like she had just finished a five hour study session in the library. Back then, it had taken a while for her to get used to a sleeping bag when she started traveling with Lara, but she's definitely used to it now.

Why does she feel so tired, then? Sam brushes it off and figures that it's probably how mentally challenging the events of yesterday were.

Sleep washes over her for just a brief moment, uninterrupted and restful. She basks in the warmth left by Lara's body like a cat on a lazy summer noon, but she's woken up far too soon by said woman's voice and the smell of some very good coffee.

"Sam." Lara repeats for the third time. When she sees the Japanese's eyes slowly flit open, the archaeologist seats herself down, careful not to spill the steaming thermos of joe all over herself. "Fields is gone and scouting ahead with the other guy Cameron left with yesterday. She's back with lots of food and she says this belongs to Fields' girlfriend who's at the pyramid. She's some coffee aficionado and addict, or something."

She doesn't register most of it. "Yep, that makes sense. This smells like the kind mom makes for dad, and he's picky about everything."

"Sounds like you got lucky." Lara inches the mug closer to her.

"Hell yeah." Sam closes her hands over the mug and inhales the rich, thick scent. "We're here with weirdos, but they're nice and well funded weirdos."

The laughter that comes from the archaeologist sounds off, and it tips Sam more than a bit when she hurriedly asks a question. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Huh? No." The urgent inquiry makes suspicion rise up inside her. "Why?"

Lara leans in real close to her, but her mouth doesn't make a sound even when it's right by Sam's ear. Finally, after a moment of tense silence, she speaks. "I heard that-"

"Wakey wakey!" Cameron's voice interrupts them before she can say anything more and pokes her head into the tent. "Oh. You're awake. Good, 'cause I brought a professional chef here to make some food for us and it's pretty damn good. Hurry up before I finish everything."

"Very funny." Sam laughs after only half of her coffee is left. She remembers yesterday's food and it's definitely not gourmet.

"Not really. I'm not joking."

Now that Lara thinks of it, she does smell something wonderful, and so does Sam. With a final gulp, she stands up and offers her hand to her bookish roommate. "Come on, I'm starving."

The brunette gladly takes it, but she lags behind as Sam excitedly makes her way outside. Cameron gives her a knowing look as she leans in close, just like Lara did with her best friend moments ago. "Don't tell her yet, Croft. If she knows, that witch in her skull knows too. It'll make getting rid of her that much harder."

"I know." They talked about it, after all, but she can't help but let the guilt weigh her down. "I just... I don't like lying to her."

"It's that or let that worm stay in her noggin forever." She pats Lara's shoulder. "C'mon, breakfast's waiting."

Lara nods wordlessly and lets the woman guide her out, where Sam is absolutely wolfing down her morsel. She had been doubtful before, but judging by the way Himiko's descendant is scarfing everything in, Cameron might have been telling the truth.

"Who made this?" Lara takes a good look at her food. "It smells great."

"That guy with me yesterday." Cameron must be talking about the tan skinned man with the undercut. "We got here early this morning, but he and Nicky went to go first and send our supplies to the camp. I got him to make some food first, of course. He's the only one whose stuff don't taste like ass."

"Thank you for your faith in the rest of we peasants' culinary skills." Fields says between his chewing. Unlike Sam, he's actually savoring the food instead of vacuuming it in. "It's ironic, considering that you are the worst cook here."

"Why are you three even talking?" Sam wipes the edge of her mouth and puts her completely cleaned up plate down. "You're gonna let all this get cold!"

"Alright, alright." Lara holds her hands up in surrender. "I'd better eat mine before you leave me to starve."

Sam feigns being offended. "Lara Croft, you would be content eating instant noodles and frozen food for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I wasn't around to get mad at you for it."

Cameron begins to eat her share while she rolls her eyes. "You smart ones are all the same."

* * *

They arrived at camp during the evening the day before, and it was quite cool, although understandably humid. Now, it's swelteringly hot and Sam's backpack is heavier than she thought it would be. Maybe it's the heat getting to her, because it certainly didn't feel this heavy before.

It feels like a miracle when they stop by a river to catch a short break. She wipes the sweat from her forehead and stretches, finally free from the oppressive weight of her bag, if only for a moment.

Her jacket falls to the ground.

"Don't even think about it." Cameron warns, fanning herself with her hand. Now that her arms are bared for her to cool off, her sculpted, muscular arms leave nothing to the imagination.

"I didn't even say anything." Sam pouts, but her eyes don't leave the rushing water of the river. The torrents seem clear, unlike the murky brown they passed through yesterday, and it looks so very tempting.

"That's because you seem like you're thinking of doing something incredibly unwise." Sam and Lara can't decipher his expression, but Cameron can see that he looks as if he's watching a puppy running into the path of a speeding car.

"I know there's eels and piranhas and whatever in there." She points her thumb to Lara's direction. "This one did nothing but read and watch these documentary TV shows when she was recovering."

"And you were stuck watching them with me." Lara teases, although she knows that Sam really does enjoy her wildlife and archaeological show marathons. They had spent days and days in bed, brushing off crumbs from their breakfasts and drifting in and out of sleep.

"Well..." Sam wonders, prying her eyes off the river. "A really big fish would make a really good dinner."

"Sam..." Lara knows that look in her eyes. It's the kind that got her kicked out from that hotel in Paris for covering the floors with snail slime.

"I like the way you think." Cameron's expression is an exact copy of Sam's, except twice as scary. "We're going fishing tonight."

Fields seems amused. "Your definition of 'fishing' is having me hold the line while you shoot into the water and waste precious ammo."

"It's not wasting it if I get it on the first shot."

"Um, I know how to fish." Lara interrupts them before they can go into a full out argument. It's too hot for her to handle that right now.

Her interjection seems to work. Fields' retort dies on his tongue. "Very well, then. We won't have to deal with unsafely flying fish hooks."

"Hey!" Cameron pouts.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I can handle the bigger fish." She hurriedly adds. Whatever they're thinking, they're clearly imagining that she'll fish out something heavier than Sam in body weight. "I've only fished the less monstrous ones."

"Meh," Cameron dismissively shrugs. "You just need to do a lot of push ups and buy a bigger fishing rod."

"Lara's got one of those covered." Sam remarks, squeezing the brunette's tight biceps. The grooves and lines of her muscles gleam with sweat under the light of the sun.

"Your oversimplification of things will get you murdered one day." Fields shakes his head with a morbid chuckle. "Most likely by your own antics, too."

"Okay," Lara thinks she'd better change the topic of the conversation. "When are we going to walk again?"

"Yeah, it's really hot and stuff but I really want to see what the fuss about this old pyramid is." Sam agrees, although she could use a few more minutes of rest. Sore things are better than trudging through the forest at night, though.

"Talking about the pyramid," Lara can't believe she didn't ask this before. "How much has it been tampered with?"

"Well, Professor Fuckface groped it pretty much everywhere." Cameron annoyedly huffs at the mention of his name, even though she's not actually saying it.

"I was afraid you'd say that." Lara grimly sighs.

"If it's of any comfort to you, nothing is damaged." Fields tries to console her, but it doesn't do any good. "And he used gloves."

"And he bitched real good when I got near the thing with my machete." Cameron grumbles.

"She means that we're sure he was very careful with it." Fields elaborates.

"Okay, I think that means he cleaned it up quite well." Lara thinks out loud.

"It looked as good as a movie prop in the picture." Sam remembers.

"I hope he didn't take off with anything important." The archaeologist mumbles.

"I got a feeling he did leave something." Cameron seems too sure for someone who just has a feeling. "I mean, he probably sent those guys to kill us, that shit."

This is new. "Are you sure?"

"Nah, but we've got some guy with a really nice computer at camp." The blonde probably means a tech expert. "I bet he's gonna tell us that Professor Assbreath is behind them somehow."

Sam doesn't notice the edge of her jacket droop as she listens to Cameron's increasingly pointless yet humorously vulgar tirade, but Lara, unlike everyone else, prefers thinking about the newly presented information.

It also means that she isn't distracted, which is how she noticed the disturbance in the water right next to where Sam is standing. Adrenaline begins to pump in her veins, a result of old habits that don't die, but it will probably come in useful this time.

"Sam, get away from the water!"


	8. It's Not a Fish

"What?"

Lara's eyes seem like they're almost bulging out, but she doesn't make a move. "Sam, get here now."

"I thought you weren't supposed to make sudden movements with animals!"

"Fuckin-" Cameron's hand is empty one second, and it's armed the next, but she aims her gun up and doesn't aim yet. "Croft, get outta there, I'm gonna shoot it!"

"No," It's clear that Sam is too near to the path the bullet would need to travel to reach the animal. "She's too close, you'll hit her!"

"I got top marks in the shooting range, asshole!" The blonde obviously doesn't hold a grudge, but the urgency in her statement is clear enough.

Sam can tell that she's not supposed to move. Lara's eyes quickly scan the perimeter for anything at all, and she finds it. It's a fallen branch that looks more like a thin log, no doubt having fallen from some adjacent tree that's grown large enough to be called a giant. As soon as she has it in her hands, though, her heart almost jumps out of her chest.

"Sam, run!"

She doesn't need extra encouragement. Sam leaps forward just in time to catch a glimpse of Lara stabbing the piece of wood to whatever is behind her. The Japanese awkwardly lands with her hands to brace her fall, but the sting she feels on her palms prevents her from doing a victory dance in celebration of getting out of that unscathed. Just as she turns around, expecting to see Lara with some big fish speared on the wood somehow, her relief quickly fades.

That's not a fish. It's big enough to reach twenty feet and it has jagged scales that seem to gleam with the reflection of the water in which it lives in. It looks like an alligator on steroids and the width of it's head is easily around as wide as the documentarist's shoulders. The scratches and marks on it's hide tells tales of past battles and conquests and the animal's teeth are big and sharp enough to secure a spot in a monster movie set.

How does she know? Because it's lunging straight at Lara with it's jaws wide open and the latter is jamming that small branch into it's mouth. Unfortunately, or rather predictably, that does little to help the situation. The alligator tightly grips the makeshift spear in it's powerful jaws and gives a strong thrash to the side that whips the woman to the side.

Lara keeps her unyielding hold, but that might be a mistake, as she suddenly finds her feet no longer on the ground and the rest of herself in the water. She sputters for a brief moment as she inhales the liquid and drives a painful throb to the back of her skull, but the archaeologist quickly recovers.

"Lara!" Sam calls out, when the archaeologist's head breaks through the surface of the water to take a gasping breath.

Before the Yamatai survivor even finishes getting her brunette bangs out of her face, shots have already begun firing. Sam quickly remember that duh, she has a gun too, and she hastes in drawing it. _"When in doubt, aim for the biggest target."_ She remembers Lara's advice. It's also how she survives her zombie shooter games. At least she doesn't forget to turn the safety off.

The feeling of actually shooting at a live target is foreign to her, though, and she very nearly drops her gun when she pulls the trigger. The recoil feels stronger than she expected it to be and her shot veers off just inches from the alligator's scaly back. It's like having a firecracker go off in her hands.

 _Damn it._

The animal tosses the snapped branch away, half of the wood still in Lara's hand. The brunette gapes in horror as the only thing keeping her from the beast is effortlessly discarded away. She reaches for anything she can when it gets closer, and only when it snaps it's jaws at her again does her knife slashes upwards a to keep her hand from being bit off. The alligator hisses as the momentum of it's lunge and the human's helps the blade slide into the side of it's snout. The blood arcs in a deep red curve, but it doesn't seem to bothered, even when the sound of gunshots pierce the air again and again.

"Shit, these guns aren't made for full grown fuckin' gators." Cameron hisses. Her shots are hitting, but the bullets don't seem to go through the thick hide of the reptile. "I ain't got a bigger gun!"

"What?" Sam can't believe it. "I thought you were the bodyguard!"

"Well, I told you not to go near the water!"

"Shut up." Fields' frown drops deeper.

Cameron glowers at him. "I haven't got a bigger gun, asswipe!"

"Then what the fuck are we supposed to do?!" Sam frantically empties her entire clip, only half of her shots hitting her target. The other half helplessly sinks into the water.

Lara holds the knife in front of her, the only thing she has to protect herself. After a brief moment of contemplating whether to take out her gun or not, the alligator takes another go at her and the small window of opportunity is gone. Something catches on her foot and she trips backwards, and sticking out her knife is all she can do to prevent being finished. Call it fast reflexes or just pure luck, but the animal bites into the knife. It's teeth tears through the skin on the side of Lara's hand, but the knife holds it's jaws open. It would seem like a scene straight out of a cartoon if it wasn't so scary.

Now's her chance. Sam does what she never thought of doing before and jumps into the river after tossing her gun aside and taking her own blade out, leaving the two mercenaries to stare and wonder if she really actually did that.

"Don't!" Fields yells out at her, but it's too late. She has already dived in.

"Damn it." Cameron hurriedly shrugs out of her jacket. "What in the actual hell made her think-" She doesn't even finish her sentence before she leaps and follows.

The alligator's head thrashes around as it tries with all it's might to shake the knife off, but the beast has no chance. It's lodged quite deep inside and it has the laws of physics working against it, which means Sam can perform her brilliant idea with a lot less effort. With a lungful of air, she dives deep down and tries to ignore the fish swimming past or the whatever-those-are cluttered below her. The sunlight filters faintly, outlining the form of the wildly tossing beast as it tries to shake off the knife from it's jaws.

She guesses that's why Lara chose the expensive one back in the store and not the cheap pocket knife from home.

Sam isn't sure if alligators have claws or if they're just dull nubs, but she's mindful to avoid them as she pushes with her legs and gives a powerful thrust. The feeling of stabbing something for the very first time isn't like what she expected it to be like. First, the knife pierces through skin and muscle, and then she twists. Blood leaks into clouds of copper and the animal tosses in pain. For a moment, she mentally pats herself on her head until something rough smacks the side of her face and suddenly a scaly hide is directly on her face and she has no idea what's even going on anymore.

Lara watches in complete horror as blood pools around the panicking beast that responds to Cameron's riding of it's back and shooting into it's neck repeatedly by tossing her into the water and tipping itself over.

But then she sees gold.

Sam's knife is still sticking out of the alligator's belly, but the documentarist is coughing up water a short distance away while a bleeding gash on her cheek leaks a trail of red that mixes with the water on her face.

This time, she takes the chance. The knife is right over there, if she can take it, she can fight. She can win. Of course, that's before the alligator turns upright again and it's tail misses Lara's eye by just an inch. Cameron is nowhere to be found, but the hole in the creature's eye gives her an opportunity she can't ignore. She goes underwater again and gives the knife another twist for good measure when the beast goes for the only thing it can see: Sam. An explosion of red blocks her vision, but she yanks the weapon out of it's gut and rises up again.

The alligator seems to have shaken the knife out of it's jaw, somehow, but no matter. She can get a new one. Cameron's arm is bleeding profusely but she's holding up her gun while she slowly moves backwards, but her frown and the lack of shooting speaks volumes about her situation. "Croft, I've got one bullet left." She doesn't take her eyes off the flailing alligator. It's sluggish and it's movements are jerky, but it's still moving and that's nothing to scoff at. "That thing can see me. You've got the knife, right? When it goes after me, jam it in the other eye."

"Okay." She knows there's no other alternative. The mercenary has one bullet left and they'd better take advantage of it.

As if on cue, the alligator strikes as if it can't feel the pain from the numerous wounds on it's body. Lara notices the holes on the back of the animal's neck. Cameron must have planned to sever it's airway or spinal column, but it was a no go. Perhaps the skin was just too thick, but it's more probable that it's wild thrashing made it difficult for her to aim and hit a truly vital spot. Even so, she finds it strange that it's not dead, but she keeps the thought at the back of her mind. There are more important things to think about at the moment.

"Now!"

The alligator opens it's mouth to snap at the blonde, and the last bullet leaves the barrell of the gun and jets into the cavernous depths of the animal's mouth. It halts in it's advance, and Lara makes her move. In one solid move, she hoists herself up onto it's back and she jams the knife down. The great beast gives out a sound of pain and savagely shakes to drive the archaeologist off, but the woman is far stronger than it gave her credit for. Holding on to the blade like it's the reins of an unruly horse, she reaches for the unused gun at her side. With her finger ready to give the alligator it's death, she jams the gun into the other eye and pulls the trigger once.

It's still moving, whipping it's tail around as if expecting to throw her off somehow.

She shoots again, and this time, it stops moving. The splashing stops and the only sounds are of the humans' heavy breaths and the chirping birds.

"Holy shit." Is all Sam can say. Lara is still mounted on the dead alligator's back, hand still clasping the knife tight as if she's preparing for the animal to somehow return to trying to tear chunks of her off again.

When it's clear that it's dead, Lara wastes no time before she jumps down, knife still in it's head. "Sam, are you okay?" Is the first question that leaves her mouth as she rushes her way to her, awkwardly stomping around in the stained water.

The Japanese tiredly wipes the trickle of blood from her cheek. "Yeah, but this had better not leave a mark. Is your hand okay?"

"Y'all are assholes." Cameron deadpans as she takes long strides to make it back to land. She looks eternally amused as always, though. "No 'thanks for getting your arm torn and jumping in to help us, Cameron' or 'Are you hurt?'. Am I losing the charm? Huh?"

Although they know that she's probably joking, the two awkwardly laugh and mutter their embarrassed apologies.

"Damn, being single sucks." The blonde mutters to herself. She plops down on her butt when she reaches a dry patch of land. "Also, don't jump into a river if there's an alligator there, just sayin'."

Sam can only nod. She herself has no idea what she was thinking because it just occurred to her that she jumped into a river to stab a twenty foot alligator that's now floating dead just over there. Maybe Lara's rubbing off on her?

"I like your balls, though." She gives Lara a proud look. "You've got a feisty one, here."

Lara looks down, a faint blush on her face. "Thanks for helping me out, you two." She'd rather not have Sam jumping into danger for her anymore, but she'll save that conversation for later.

Shedding her fatigued disguise, Cameron hooks her arm around Sam's neck and gives her the most vicious noogie she's ever received. "I fucking told you not to go near the water!" She humorously growls. "You tit sucker, we could've offed that thing way easier!"

"How very eloquent." Fields sighs.

"Ow, ow!" Sam uselessly tries to shake the woman off in a manner that's quite similar to how the alligator did. "It was just because my jacket sleeve got into the water!"

"Um..." Lara isn't sure who to support.

"I advise you to say out of this." Fields wisely advises.

"Well, at least we've got dinner now." Cameron finally lets her go after a while. She rubs her chin thoughtfully.

One thought comes to Sam's mind as she stares at what's going to be a very big feast. "So... barbecue tonight?"

* * *

 **Okay, I've had an experience writing a super long story before but I ended up putting a mindfuck plot twist there that seriously messed with some people's heads. If you're reading this, can you let me know if you want a standard shocking plot twist or one that's genuinely mindfuckingly wtf?**

 **I don't want to end up confusing people.**


	9. He Knows

_The walls seem like they're closing in on her. Sam's heart jumps when a sharp beep interrupts the quiet of the Saturday night and her hand goes to her side to reach for the knife. Only when she has a tight grip on it does she remember—she's home, it's only the microwave finishing it's job of heating up her takeout curry, and she's safe._

 _Right?_

 _She thought a few nights in her own bed, curling up with Lara and watching TV all day would keep the rushes of adrenaline away whenever a loud noise comes unexpectedly from a passing truck or a fork, but she dreads to consider that it might take a bit more than that._

 _She tells Lara to let the gun stay in the cupboard, but she doesn't tell the archaeologist that she won't even step out of their room at night without the knife in her hand._

* * *

That's enough footage of them gutting the alligator, for now. The batteries should be conserved for later, not that she doesn't have plenty of spare ones.

Lara takes a wild guess and decides that Sam probably stopped filming because her hands are shaking too much to hold the video camera steadily. There's a hidden weight that drags down on the former vlogger's smile and it's too obvious for the woman whose all nighters have been graced by that same grin for years. Sam carefully tucks the camera back in her bag and sits herself down on the ground, sighing in relief at the feeling of being in clothes that are actually dry. She hopes she doesn't have to take any more showers today.

Her hand twitches when she feels Lara's fingers on her own ones. "Sweetie," She relaxes once more once she sees it's just her. "Hey."

"Hey." Lara thinks it's best not to mention that her companion looks a few shades paler right now. "Are you okay?" Her hand is cold, too, just like the body of animal being taken apart by their mercenary guards.

"Yeah." The answer could sound more enthusiastic. "That was... Wow."

She knows Sam's jungles have always been different from her's. The young woman's dwelled in cities of concrete and towers instead of the trees and valleys Lara's always been accustomed to on her digs and the few ones she's been to with her parents. She's never killed before.

"It was the same for me when I did it the first time." Lara closes her strong, calloused hand over Sam's smaller one. Her nails are still smooth and clean. She's never taken a person's life before. What is she supposed to say? "You'll get used to it." Shouldn't be her next words, but she can't think of anything else.

"It's really gross." Sam admits, trying not look at the bloody mess just a few feet away. She doesn't have to describe what she means, because Lara understands.

Stabbing wasn't a pleasant experience for her back then, either. "I know." The archaeologist cups her cheek when she sees Sam's eyes dart to what's going to be their dinner tonight and their breakfast tomorrow. "Hey, don't look." She says her words with enough subtlety as to keep anyone else from hearing.

Sam gladly welcomes her. The sound of flesh being cut apart by knives makes her queasy already. What came over her back there? The woman she's been for the past twenty or so years would never jump into a river to stab a fucking caiman.

Yes, that's what it's called. Fields had a field day correcting them about wrongly calling it an alligator.

She doesn't complain either when Lara pulls her hand. Sam willingly stands and lets herself be guided to a small spot a distance away where an old hollow trunk fell over and stayed for longer than she'd care to investigate. She sits and remembers the first time she had to gut a fish during their trip to Hawaii. She puked. "That was really hardcore." Sam wonders out loud.

"You were hardcore." Lara bumps her shoulder lightly, relieved to receive a response in the form of an intrigued smile.

"You're the one who jumped at it." Sam bumps her back. "I think you're the one who should be called hardcore."

"But then you jumped in after me." She bounces the compliment back. "You didn't have to do that."

Sam can't believe the absurdity. "Of course I do! I'd be the shittiest best friend ever if I let you rescue me from an entire cult of weirdos and let you get eaten by an animal."

"I think all the late night snacks you got me during our finals made up for it." Lara sheepishly grins. She still can't think of store-bought sandwiches without having intense flashbacks of the thick papers she'll have to memorize by the next morning, though. Energy drinks still make her uneasy.

"Does this usually happen on archaeology trips?" Sam asks. Maybe she's been watching to many adventure movies, but their current trip already sounds like it could be part of one. "I mean, back in Yamatai, do animals randomly attack you for no reason too? I thought those DVDs of yours said that they'd leave us alone or something."

"Sam, I had to climb trees just so the wolves wouldn't have me for a late dinner when I fell asleep." Lara doesn't seem too keen to elaborate. "So yes, it's happened before, I suppose, but I really wish it didn't." She also wishes Sam would stop averting the subject. She can still feel her hand shaking. "Your hands are cold."

"They are?" Sam supposes that pulling it away would just make the brunette more concerned. "I guess they are."

Lara knows the answer to the question she's about to ask, but she asks anyway. "You know there were three of us. We could have taken it, but you jumped in anyway. Why'd you do that?"

Sam genuinely looks like she's trying to find a good answer. Her nose scrunches up like she's in the middle of a particularly difficult exam, but then she exasperatedly sighs. "Just 'cause you were there and I just had to?" She blurts, giving up. "I know, I know, I could've just reloaded and kept shooting, but I'm kinda crappy with a gun and I just _gotta_ -" She pauses. "Gotta fight."

That's the word. _Fight_. It's the word that's been ringing in her head for every single moment, and she still can't pinpoint the moment it started to be the voice that guided everything she did. "I know." No one else knows better than her. "I know the feeling, Sam."

"Of course you do, sweetie." She did it for her, after all.

"I got hurt a lot back then because I let the panic take over." The cuts and bruises have all melded to a blur in her memories. There were so many that she didn't keep track. She was too busy trying to stay alive. "Just please be careful, Sam. I got into a lot of nasty situations because of it. Don't do the same thing, okay?"

"Okay." Sam is more than relieved that the Croft didn't ask her to leave. The thought bothers her more than it should. She holds her arms open the way she always does when she comes home from her annual trips back to Tokyo. "C'mere, you."

Lara gladly does. Her arms are around her in an instant and she just holds her right there for a moment. It's just like how they stay in the bed together until they're too hungry to put off breakfast any longer. The scent of Sam's favorite expensive shampoo isn't as strong as usual, but that only means that she can bury herself deeper in the nape of her neck to catch the whiff of vanilla and the curious bit of canned food they had for breakfast today. She can feel Sam's lips accidentally touch the tip of her ear. The slight contact makes the tempo of her heartbeats speed up.

"You're kinda like my Terminator, Lara."

The pleasant hug suddenly seems more confusing than nice. "Uh, what?"

"Well, a good one." Sam corrects herself. "Hey, you're strong... uh, not a robot, and you don't have sunglasses either. Okay, that was a bad comparison."

Lara understands the message, though, and she pulls away to look her right in the eyes. Her hands are still on the documentarist's shoulder and the other one is still where it belongs, around Sam's waist. "Sam, you know I was just trying to stay alive and save you."

"What's wrong?" Sam leans forward to get a better view of Lara's face. "Lara, you've been acting really weird."

 _Because I'm just trying to figure everything out and you think I'm doing so much more than that._ "Just worried, Sam. We just got here and you—"She slipped up. "We already got attacked twice."

"It's an animal, Lara, you don't tell it to track us down and eat us." Sam dismisses, shrugging. "Well, not unless it's trained, but what are the chances?"

Lara's face darkens. "You didn't forget about the men who attacked us on the way here, didn't you?" She asks, worry laced in her sentiment.

"Of course not." She can still remember the smell of concrete, gasoline and blood merging into one. It still makes her uneasy in the stomach, but no one needs to know that, though. They don't seem the least bothered by it, and she doesn't think she should too. She may not have carved a bloody path through the island like Lara did, but she survived and that should be enough.

 _No. You were saved, you didn't survive._

"It's not like I don't trust you, Sam." Lara says, but it doesn't make her feel better.

"You're just worried, I know." She finishes her words for her.

"Maybe-"

 _Maybe we should go back?_ Something stirs inside her like a storm trapped in flesh. Her blood runs with the force of a torrential river and her voice booms with the strength of a tornado. "No." She doesn't say it loudly, but the command is clear. Nothing changes, it's still the same pitch and she still speaks her vowels the way she always does, but the single word makes Lara's spine straighten like she's a soldier being scolded by a drill sergeant. Just like that, the sturdy log they're sitting on crumbles like a flimsy branch, falling apart as if being torn apart by the seams. The very air caves into it and it crumbles. They fall.

Lara looks quite stunned as she stays on her spot, sitting on a pile of broken wood.

"What was that?"

Sam doesn't notice Fields standing there until she hears his voice, but she has no answer. She just stares back at Lara while she doesn't make a move to get up.

Fields sighs in relief when he sees no one else. "The old logs are fragile. I would suggest a better place to sit and talk. Preferably somewhere closer."

"This isn't close enough?" Sam asks, finally getting on her feet again. She carefully beats the dust away from her pants, but not before she makes sure there are no splinters caught anywhere.

"We've heard of people taken away during... Bathroom breaks." He doesn't look like he has any desire to elaborate, and judging by the less than pleased look he has, he doesn't want to answer any questions.

"Okay, then." Sam snickers knowingly. It's more than likely that he more than heard of the incident. "Yeah, don't you just hate it when people throw you over your shoulder when you're minding your own business?" She offers Lara a hand as she imagines the scenario in her head. She can't contain her amusement, and it shows greatly in her grin.

"You'd hate it even more if you had to catch them while they were doing it." He looks even paler than he was before. "It was one of our darker moments." His eyes fall a bit distant at those words and his lip quivers uncomfortable before he blinks everything away. "We're done undressing the caiman. Let's go, we're behind schedule."

"Wait, we're going to carry all that?" Sam crinkles her nose.

"Yes." He doesn't seem even a little but fazed.

Lara doesn't, either. If anything, she's pleased about their situation. "Take your food where you can find it, right?" She smiles.

"Right."

The Croft has no idea what scares her more, how she notices the knowing look in his eyes or how he doesn't seem very surprised at all.

* * *

 **Okay, I know I have horrible update times. I'm really working on it, guys! I'm thinking of doing "shotgun updating", as in binge writing for one story and updating a lot in a short time before focusing on other stories that I started before this one. I made the mistake of doing too many at a short time, but I made a promise to not abandon anything and to not keep everyone waiting!**


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